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AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JDLT, 1881, 

AT • 

MASON'S POINT, LAKE BOMOSEEN. 

Under the Auspices of the Citizens of Rutland 
County, and the Rutland County His- 
torical Society, conjointly ; includ- 
ing the Report of the Ceremony 
of Christening the Island of 




COMPILED BY 



JOHN M. CURRIER. M; D., 

OF CASTLETON, VERMONT, 

Secretary of the Rutland County Historical Society; Member 

of the Vermont Historical Society; Life Member of the 

New Hampshire Antiquarian Society ; Member of the 

New England Historic-Genealogical Society; also 

a Member of the American Associatfon for 

the Advancement of Science , and others. 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
RUTLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1881, 



AT 



MASON'S POINT, LAKE BOMOSEEN, 

Under the Auspices of the Citizens of Rutland 
County, and the Butland County His- 
torical Society, conjointly ; includ- 
ing the Report of the Ceremony 
of CJirlstening the Island of 




COMPII.EJi) BY, , . ; ; ; ,. 
JOHN M^.'^'CURRIER,' M.t)' 

OF CASTLETON, VERMONT, 

Secretary of the Rutland C<iunty Historical Society; Meuil'tn- 

of the Vermont Histoi-ical Society ; Life Member of the 

New Hampshire A.ntiquarian Society ; Member of the 

New England Historic-Genealogical Society ; also 

a Member of the American Association for 

the Advancement of Science ; and others. 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OK THE 
RUTLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



3^^1 



...... *^1 



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PREFACE. 

The report of the proceedings of the celebration at Mason's 
Point, Lake Bomoseen, July 4th, 1881, was prepared for publi- 
cation in pamphlet form at the earnest request of many who 
participated in the exercises and festivities of that occasion. 
Some memorial of that historic day seemed desirable, especially of 
so important an event as christening the enchanted Island of 
Neshobe. 

Liong will this name cling to that beautiful spot, after those 
who celebrated that eventful day shall be forgotten. It is due, 
then, to posterity that we record that day's proceedings. At the 
same time let us record, irrespective of political party feeling, 
the gloom that overshadowed that day's proceedings, in conse- 
quence of the assassination of the President of the United 
States — James A. Garfield. J. M. C. 

Castleton, VL, Aug. 25th, 1881. 



Celebration of the Fourth of July, 1881. 

The celebration of the Fourth of July 1881, on Mason's Point, 
at Lake Bomoseen, was a grand affair. It was estimated by 
competent judges that over fifteen thousand people were present 
during all parts of the day to witness the exercises and partiei" 
pate in the festivities of the occasion. * 

The weather was fair and comfortable in the forenoon, with 
just clouds enough to obscure the sun and allow the exercises to 
be conducted in the open air, on that beautiful rocky eminence, 
without artificial protection from the scorching rays, usual at 
that season of the year. About noon the clouds broke awav, 
and there was bright sunshine the remainder of the afternoon ; 
the cooling breezes from the lake were exhilerating ; and the 
rains of the previous day had cleared the atmosphere from all 
impurities, and a more genial day was never experienced. 

Great preparations had been made by the several committees, 
to provide for the comforts of the crowds of people who were 
expected to be present, and to make everything as pleasant as 
possible for them, throughout the day. Too much credit cannot 
be bestowed upon the Executive Committee for the admirable 
arrangements by which the exercises of the day were carried 
out, and for the good order that was observed everywhere along 
the shores of the lake. Special police had been provided and 
stationed at various points, who discharged their duties with 
fidelity. 

The Lake Bomoseen Transportation Company had a barge 
built especially for the occasion, sufiiciently large to carry 
three hundred passengers at a load, which was towed by the 
steamer Naomi, from Hydeville to Mason's Point eight times 
during the day, to accommodate those who arrived on the rail- 
road trains. 



The celebration was under the combined auspices, of the Rut- 
land County Historical Society, and the citizens of those towns 
lying in the immediate vicinity of Lake Bomoseen. One promi- 
nent feature of the celebration, was the chinstening of the beau- 
tiful Island lying to the westward of Mason's Point, and was es- 
pecially under the charge of the Historical Society. Several 
meetings of the citizens had been held in the towns of Castleton 
and Fair Haven, to perfect plans for the celebration, and make 
arrangements for the same. The following organization was 
perfected : 



, Officers of the Citizens. 

President of the Day — Hon. J. B. Bromley of Castleton. 

Vice-Pre.<idenls — Moseley King and L. Howard Kellogg of 
Benson ; Dr. A. T. Woodward and E. J. Ormsbee of Brandon; 
D. D. Cole and Hon. C. S. Rumsey of Castleton ; Bradley Fish 
of Ira; Ira C. Allen and Z. C. Ellis of Fair Haven; H. L. 
Lathrop and R. R. Drake of Pittsford ; H. E. Armstrong and C. 
A. Rann of Poultney ; Hon. L. W. Reddington and A. H. Tuttle 
of Rutland ; Rev. ,J, K. Williams and J. E. Manley of West Rut- 
land; M. M. Dikeman and Cyrus Jennings of Hubbardton ; R. 
C. Abell and R. C. Hitchcock of West Haven; and Hon. Ralph 
Richards of Hampton, N, Y. 

Secretary — John M. Currier of Castleton. 

Treasurer— M. D. Cole of Castleton. 

Executive Committee — L. Howard Billings of Hydeville ; T. S 
Sherman and C. S. Proctor of Castleton ; and Frank W. Redfield 
and Walter E. Howard of Fair Haven. 

Marshal of the Day — Hon. John G. Pitkin of Fair Haven. 

Assistant Marnhals — H. C. Rann of Poultney ; A. L. Hill of 
Hubbardton ; and E. H. Armstrong of Castleton. 

Reader of the Declaration of Independence — L. B. Clogston, Esq., 
of Fair Haven. 

Commander of the Battery — L. Clogston of Fair Haven. 

Music — The Cornet Band of West Rutland and the Castleton 
Cornet Band. 



Special Organization of the Rutland County 
Historical Society, 

Several special meetings of the Ratlaud County Historical 
Society were held at the Bomoseen House in Castleton in the 
month of June, for the purpose of perfecting arrangements with 
the citizens' organization for celebrating Independence Day at 
Lake Bomoseen. The following special organization was made ; 

Chairman of the Historical Exercises — Hon. Henry Clark of 
Rutland. 

Executive Comviiftee — John M. Currier of Castleton ; A. N. 
Adams of Fair Haven, and Hon. Henry Hall of Rutland. 

Forenoon. 

Opening Exercises — At eleven o'clock Hon. J. B. Bromley an- 
noLinced that the hour had arrived for the commencement of the 
exercises of the day. He spoke feelingly of the sadness and 
gloom spread over the nation by the attempted assassination of 
the President of the United States, and stated that the latest dis- 
patches contained the cheering news of his improved condition 
and prospective recovery; which was followed by a manifest 
and unanimous expression of thankfulness from the spectators. 
Music was rendered by the combined bands; prayer was offered 
by the Rev. Edward T. Hooker of Castleton. 

The president then introduced the Hon. Henry Clark of Rut- 
land who took charge of the historical exercises, and made the 
following address : 

One hundred and five years agfo this morning there i-an^ out upon the 
air — the glad chorus of patriotic hearts— that a nation had been establish- 
ed, and from that day to this the voice of the morning has proclaimed the 
glad anthem of freedom and liberty. But there comes to us this morning 
a moan of sorrow. We meet therefore to commemoratti in the spirit of a 
somewhat more somber joy than rings in the noisy jubilee of the street, 
but notwithstanding it remains a day especially consecrated to American 
liberty and Amencan independence. The true character of that liberty is 
to be sought in the events of our colonial history, in the manners and laws 
of our colonial forefathers, and above all in the stern, brief epitome of our 
whole colonial life contained in that memorable declaration, the maxims of 
whose sturdy wisdom still eound in our ears, and linger in our hearts ; a 



9 

declaration, peculiar among' all others of its kind,not only for the fearless free 
spirit whir,h beats and burns beneath every decisive sentence, but from its 
combination of clearness in statement of particular grievances, but with 
audacity in the announcement of general pi-inciples ; a declai-ation indeed, 
one abounding in senlimenls of liberty so sinewy and bold, and ideas, of 
liberty so exact and practical, that it bears on every immortal feature the 
signs (>f rei)resenting a jieople to whom liberty had been long familiar as a 
living law, as an organized institution as a homely household fact. The 
peitutiiii-ilius which distinguish the whole substance and tone of this solemn 
inslrument, are peculiarities of the American revolution itself, giving dig- 
nity to its events and import to its principles, as they gave success to its 
arms. 

As the salutations of the moi-ning never weary us by their <Jaily recur- 
rence amiil the ties of domestic life, so the annual return of this day, while 
we are true in more extended relations, can never fail to waken associa- 
tions that move the heart to national sympathy. 

But to-day, there comes a pause — the hand of an assassin has again 
struck at the nation and the voice of i-evelry is hushe<i, yet patiiolic hearts, 
-while mourning is in the land. Mingled with all this there is the fearful im- 
pression in each heai-t — that all is not well, that the V)lack syren of all, 
has lodgment in the hearts of vaunting American citizens, that headstrong 
ambition has created a foid under-current that has le<l to the assassination 
of the President, and that American citizens are responsible for this^most 
wioked of all ;/>'ilical deeiis. 

Vermont expected to make a glad welcome to the President, this week — 
but now mourning covers the pathway he would have trod. Our (»over- 
nor instead of greeting sends on the wings of the wind the j'egi-ets of the 
commonwealth at the sad event. 

Mr. Clark proceeded to state the purposes of the celebration and the ob- 
jects of the Historical Society, commending them to the favorable patron- 
age and aid by the people of Rutland County. 

We stand on historic ground within ear shot of one of the battlefields of 
the Revolution— and let that echo to us fiom the past- be impressed upon 
us at this hour, and let us proceed diligently to gather up the materials of 
our local history. 

The address of welcome was delivered by the Hon. L. W. 
Reddington of Rutland, as follows: 

Mr. President, Ladles and Gentlemen : — This is the anniversary of our na- 
tion's birth. A little over a century ago, Thomas Jefferson jiromulgated the 
Declaration of Independence and this nation was crystallized into being. 
And it is fitting the American people should, ever maintain undiminished 
and unrestricted the ceremonies pertaining to the celebration of this day 
from which evolved the everlasting cieed of liberty, and the prerogaUve 
of good government for mankind. 

Through this annual celebration, patriotism is preserved — our race ele- 



10 

vated, anil a love and respect for our laws engendered, by the periodic 
universal, commemoration of this historic day, the fundamental princijilea 
of our constitution are kept ever before us, impressing us with the necessi- 
ty of a constant guardianship over the privileges thus bequeathed us by 
our ancestors ; for so long as humanity has aspirations, vaulting ambition, 
and the thirst for power, liberty will only be preserved by unceasing vigils, 
and untiring zeal. 

And although the heart of the American people is at this present mo- 
ment, immersed in sorrow over the dreadful ti-agedy of last Saturday, 
(referring to the shooting of President Garfield July 2nd,) which has al- 
most deprived a loving domestic circle of a father, a host of admiring 
friends of an associate, and a great Nation of our Executive ; still the 
hand which has wielded the destines of this country hitherto, will preserve 
us in the future ; and while individualities must cease to exist, and man- 
kind fade away as the leaves of the forest, etill our duties to the Church, 
Family and State, survive. 

A few weeks since, the Rutland County Historical Society, decided to 
make this i)Ccasion more interesting by the ad<Iition of two most appropriate 
and commendable ceremonies, to-wit : — by providing a feast for the society 
and its guests, and by conferring a more euphonious name, on what has 
heretofore, in tradition, borne the somewhat alluring sobriquet of "Chow- 
der Island." Hence, here we are, assembled in execution of the program 
as thus provided by the society. And unto me has been assigned the 
pleasant duty of extending in behalf of the proprietor of this soil, a.^d of 
those interested in the Island, a cordial welcome to the Rutland County 
Historical Society, and to the futherance of the designs as heretofore enu* 
merated. 

And gentlemen of the Society, the privileges thus tendered may you ac- 
cept ami enjoy ; and your ministrations here to-day, may we as citi- 
zens of Rutland County, ever hold in appreciative remembrance. 

Dr. James Sanf oid of Castleton, was next introduced and 
made the following response to the address of welcome: 

3fr. Presideiit : — With a due sense of the honor conferred upon me, I 
make reply to the gentleman last up. 

Sir : — "We, the members of the Rutland County Historical Society, thank 
you and those whom you so ably represent for this kindly welcome to these 
pleasant grounds, and for all the privileges this day granted us. 

As a Society we are ever in search of the ancient, the beautiful and the 
true. 

When we come in contact with an object so ancient, an object having 
an origin so tar back in the dim distance that all the truth pertaining to it 
cannot be obtained by exact science, then, sir, we sometimes give the 
imagination slight play, as I shall do at this time. 

The object I now refer to is the Island near us, which we are this day 
permitted to christen. 



11 

As Venus was born of the sea, so likewise hereabouts, in days primeval, 
the crystal waves were parted and up rose this oval piece of earth, in time 
outrivaling- in beauty that very goddess herself. 

Fi-om its birth it was greeted with the smile of the gods. For ages and 
ages this was their favorite resoi-t. Even Jupiter was accustomed to lay 
aside his thunderbolts upon Mount Olympus, Vulcan would leave his forge, 
Apollo his harp. Mars his spear and shield, and Nepture his trident, that 
together they might recline upon the velvet-moss-lined banks of this Island 
and watch delighted the Nymphs, the Naiads and the Graces as they 
sported in the surrounding waters. 

Again, century after century while the so-called aborigines roved in 

these wilds, during the bright day of summer, many a fair Indian maiden 

might be seen silently gliding over these waters to meet her lover upon this 

Island. For, if legends tell aright, love here plighted never faded : 

And vows here spoken 
Were never broken. 

And now, gathered hereupon the shore of this enchanting Lake, with 
this same Island in view, we feel that the human heart is not yet dead to 
the poetry and I'omance of life. Of late, this Island has been mainly des- 
ignated by the very lengthy cognomen of "The Island upon Lake Bomo- 
seen." 

To find for it a fitting and a lasting name, mei'e individual effort never 
has and never will succeed. Nothing short of a combination of talent such 
as we bi-ing to bear at this time can ever accomplish this gi-and object. 

So, if t(vday in onr united endeavor we can fix upon a name that will har- 
monize with th 3 transcendant beauty of this gem that has so long rested 
upon the bosom of this Fairy Lake— a name that will please the gods of 
the olden times — a name that will fall like the music of far off waters 
on the ears of that injured red race now fading out in the distance — a 
name that shall be pleasing to the whole of Vermont and a part of York 
State, and above all, a r,ame that will please the real maker of all things — 
then we shall have accomplished one of the gi-eatest achievements of the 
age. 

I close, sir, by again thanking you for this hearty welcome and the high 
trust accorded us. 

The history of the Island was given by Dr. John Currier of 
Castleton, as follows : 

The section of country around Lake Bomoseen was an unbroken wilder- 
ness up to 1767, when Cols Amos Bird and Noah Lee attended by a color- 
ed man, made their first trip to Castleton with a view of settling the town. 
This region was constantly exposed to the depredations of French and 
Indians up to the conquest of Canada by the English in 1760, making per- 
manent settlement unsafe. 

On Sept. 22nd, 1761, the town of Ca'Stleton was chartered by Benning 
Wentworth, Esq,, Governor of the Province of New Hampshire, to 70 
grantees ; most of whom lived in Salisbury, Conn. ; and few of whom 



12 

ever settled in Castleton. The. following is a copy of the charter as fur- 
Qisbed from the New Hampshire Records at Concord, by the Secretary of 
State, Hon. Isaac W. Hammond, June 11, 1881 : 

****** 

* * Province of New Hampshire. 

* P. S. ^ 

* « GEORGE THE THIRD. 

By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of 

the Faith, &c. 

To all Persons to whom these Presents shall come Greeting. 
KNOW YE, That we of our special grace, certain knowledge, and 
mere motion, fjr the due encouragement of settling a new plantation with- 
in our said Province, by and with the advice of our trusty and well be- 
loved BennJng Wentworth, Esq., our Governor and Commander-in-Chief 
of our said Province of New Hampshire, in New England, and of our 
Council of the said Province ; h.ive upon the conditions and reservations 
hereinafter made, given and granted, and by these Presents, for us, our 
heirs and successors, do give and grant in equal shares, unto our loving 
subjects, inhabitants of our said Province of New Hampshire, and our other 
governments, and to their heirs and assigns forever, whose names are en- 
tered on this grant, to be divided to and amongst them into seventy equal 
shares, all that tract or parcel of land situate, lying and being within 
our said Province of New Hampshire, containing by admeasurement 
twenty-three thousand and forty acres, which tract is to contain six miles 
square, and no more; out of which an allowance is to be made for high- 
ways and unimprovable lands by rocks, ponds, mountains and rivers, 
one thousand and forty acres free acf.oi-ding to a plan and survey 
thereof, made by our said Governor's order, and returned into the Secre- 
tary's office, and hereunto annexed, butted and liounded as follows, viz : 
Beginning at the northwest corner of Poultney and from thence running 
due north six miles, then turning off at right anglt^s and running due east 
six miles then turning off at right angles again and running due south six 
miles to the northeast corner of Poultney aforesaid, thence running due 
west by Poultney six miles to the northwest corner thereof being the 
Bounds begun at. And that the same be, and hereby is incorporated in- 
to a township by the name of Castleton, and the inhabitants that do or 
shall hereafter inhabit the said township, are hereby declared to be en- 
franchised with and entitled to all and eveiy the privileges and im- 
munities that other towns within our Province by law exercise and enjoy : 
And further, that the said town as soon as there shall be fifty families i-esi- 
dent and settled thereon, shall have the liberty of hoMing two Fairs, one 

of which shall be held on the and the other on the annually, 

which Fairs are not to continue longer than the respective following 

the said and that as soon as the said town shall consist of fifty fanii- 

lies, a market may be opened and kept one or more days in each week, 
as may be thought most advantageous to the inhabitants. Also, that the 



13 

first meeting for the choice of town officers, agreeable to the laws of our 
said Province, shall be held on the third Tuesday in October next, which 
said meeting shall be notified by Mr. Samuel Brown who is hereby also 
appointed the Moderlor of the said tirst meeting, which he is to notify and 
govern agreeable to the laws and customs of our said Province ; and that 
the annual nieeting forever hereafter for the choice of such officers for the 
said town, shall be on the Second Tuesday of March, annually, to have and 
to hold the said tract of land as above expressed, together with all privi- 
leges and appurtenances, to them and their respective heirs and assigns 
forever upon the following conditions, viz : 

I. That every grantee, his heirs and assigns shall plant and cultivate 
five acres of land within the term of live years for every fifty acres con- 
tained in his or their share proportion of land in said township, and con- 
tinue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivations, on pen- 
alty of the forfeiture of his grant or share in the said township, and of its 
reverting to us, our heirs and successoi-e, to be by us or them regranted 
to such of our subjects as shall effectually settle and cultivate the same. 

II. That all white and other pir.e trees within the said township, fit for 
Masting our Royal Navy, be carefully preserved for that use, and none to 
be cut or felled without our special license for so doing first had and ob- 
tained, upon the penalty and foi-feiture of the right of such grantee, his 
heirs and assigns, to us, our heirs and successors, as well as being subject 
to the penalty of any act or acts of Parliament that now are, or hereafter 
shall be enacted. 

III. That before any division of the land be made to and among the 
grantees, a tract of land as near the centre of the said township as the 
land will admit of shall be reserved and marked out for the town lots, one 
of which shall be allotted to each grantee of the contents of one acre. 

IV. Yielding and paying therefor to us. our heirs and successors for 
the space of ten years, to be computed from the date hereof, the rent of 
one ear of Indian coi-n only, on the twenty-fifth day of December annu- 
ally, if lawfully demanded, the first payment to be made on the twenty- 
fifth day of December, 1762. 

V. Every proprietor, settler or inhabitant, shall yield and pay unto us, 
our heirs and successors yearly, and every year forever, from and after the 
expiration of ten years from the above said twenty-fifth day of December, 
namely, on the twenty-fifth day of Decembei-, which will be in the year of 
our Lord 1772, one shilling proclamation money for every hundred acres he 
BO owns, settles or posesses, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser vract 
of the said land; which money shall be paid by the respective per- 
sons aforesai ', their heirs or assigns, in our Council Cbambei' in Ports- 
mouth, or to such officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive the 
same ; and this to be in lieu of all other rents and services whatsoever. 

In testimony whereof we have caused the seal of our said Pi'ovince to 
be hereunto affixed. Witness Bbnning Wbntworth, Esq., our Governor 



14 

and Commander-in-Chief of our said Province, the 22nd day of Septem - 
ber. In the year of our Lord Christ one thousand aeren hundred and six- 
ty-one and in the First year of our Reign. By his Excellency's command, 
with advice of Council. B. Wbntworth. 

Theodork Atkinson, Secretary. 

Province of New Hampshire, September 22nd, 1761. 
Recorded according to the original Charter of under the Province Seal. 

Pr. THEODORE ATKINSON, Sec'y. 
Due North 6 Miles. 



B. W. 



Plan of Castlbton. 



g 



Due South 6 Miles. 



Province of New Hampshire, Sept. 22nd, 1761. Recorded from the 
back of the original Charter of Castleton under the Province Seal, per 

Theodore Atkinson, Secretary 

The names of the grantees of Castleton, viz : Samuel Brown, Timothy 
Woodbridge, Stephen Nash, John Willard, John Taylor, Elihu Parsons, 
Josiah Jones, Joseph Woodbridge, David Pixley, Elijah Williams, James 
Willson, Stephen West, Jacob Cooper, Isaac Garfield, Isaac Davy, Isaac 
Brown, Elijah Willson, Cafte Vancank, Isaac Vanderson, Benj. Willard, 
Joseph Willard, Timo Woodbridge, Jr., Mathew Cadwell, Aaron Shel- 
don, Israel Dewey, Willm. Kennedy, Jonathan Pixly, Samuel Brown, 
Jr., Hendrick Burgat, John Chamberlin, Daniel Ray mom! , Abel Rowe, 
Abner Clapp, Samuel Lee, Jonathan Nash, Daniel Allen, Isaac Laurence, 
Jr., Joseph Allen, Solomon Gleson, Elijah Brown, Azai-iah Williams, 
Moses Rigsley, Joseph Patturson, Stephen Nash, Jr., John Chatlwick, Isaac 
Davis, Joshua Warren, Jr., Saml. Jackson, Benja Warren, John Burgat, 
Samuel Robinson, Zack Forse, Thomas White, Benja Alvord, Caleb Blod- 
get, Joseph Nowmarch, Esq., Mk. H. Wentworth, Esq., Willm. Thornton, 
James Furguson, Wiler Davidson, John Davidson, James Thornton, 
Mathew Thornton, Josiah Jones, Jr. One tract for His Excellency Benning 
Wentworth, Esq., to contam five hundred acres as marked B. W. in this 



15 

Plan, which is to be accounted two of the within shares, one whole share 
foi- the Incorporated Society for the Propog'ation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts, one share for a Glebe for the Church of England as by law estab- 
lished, one shaiv for the first settled minister of the Gospel, and one share 
for the benefit of a school in said Town . 

Province of New Hampshire, September 22nd, 1761, recorded from the 
book of the original Chai-ter of Castleton, under the Prov. Seal. 

Theodore Atkinson, Secretary. 



The original pi-oprietors of the township of Castleton were mostly from 
Salisbury, Ct., where the meetings were held up to Feb. 27, 1770, whea 
that meeting was 'adjourned to be held at the house of Col. Amos Bird of 
Castleton, the 27th day of May next, at 2 o'clock p. m." At the same 
meeting it was voted : "That every proprietor of the township of Castleton 
'shall have the privilege of pitching one hundred*acres to each right in the 
said township ; provided he lays it in a square form and not less than 
fifty rods wide, which shall be the 4th division." 

'"Voted — That there be a draft for the above mentioned pitch, and one " 
pitch made every day — Sundays excepted — anil the 1st pitch to be made ou 
the first day of May next, and eveiy proprietor shall pitch according to his 
draft, except he shall neglect to make his pitch on the day which he draws, 
which if he does, he shall foi-feit his chance to the next draft, so that every 
proprietor shall have a chance of making his pitch on the day he draws." 

Accordingly 44 pitches were made in the 4th Division. Other pitches were 
made subsequently, but some of the early records have been lost and other- 
wise dilapidated so that the titles of some pieces of land in town cannot be 
ti'aced back clearly to the grantees. 

The first record we have of this Island, found in the town clerk's office of 
Castleton, is in a deed from Samuel Bnwn to Jesse Bosfwick, and reads as 
follows : 

Know all men by these Presents I Samuel Brown of Stockbridge in the 
County of Berkshire in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New 
England Gentle: for and in Consideration of the Sum of Eighty Pounds 
Lawfull money of Said Province paid me by Jesse Bostwick of the Same 
Town County and Province aforesaid Yeoman the Receipt whereof I Do 
hereby acknowledge have Given Granted Sold and Confirmed unto him the 
Said Jesse Bostwick his heirs and assigns forever all the Right Title ami 
Interest I have of in and unto Twenty full Rights or Shairs, of a Township 
Called and Known by the Name of Castleton Lying in the westei-n part of 
the Province of Newhampshire Lately Granted to me the Said Samuel 
Brown and others which Said Twenty Rights or Shairs I now hold by Vir- 
tue of Purchas of the Orignal Grantees of Said Township (Viz) Timothy Wood- 
bridge Esqr. Stephen Nash John Willard Josiah Jones Joseph Woodbridge 
David Pixley James Willson Stephen West Jacob Cooper Isaac Garfield 



IC 

Isaac Davice Two Rights Cuffe Vanschaick Isaac Vandeuser Josejih Willard 
Mathew Cadwell Aaron Sheldon Israel Dewey William Kenedy Jonathan 
Pixely Each and Every of the above named Persons being Original Gran- 
tees as by the Charter Given of Said Township may fully appear Reference 
thereto being had. 

To Have and to Hold the Said Granted and Bargained Premises with 
all the Previleges and apurtinances thereof to him the Said Jesse Bostwick 
to his Heirs and assigns forever to his and their only use Benefit 
and Behoof forever So that Neither I myself Heii-s or assigns nor 
any of the above named O riginal Grantees or their heirs or assigns 
nor any Person or Persons Claiming from by or under me or them Shall 
\jot ever have any Right Title Claim or Interest or Demand therein by 
Virtue of any act or acts already had or Suffered whatever In Witness 
whereof I have hereunto Set my hand and Seal this Twenty Second Day 
of august in the Third year of his Majesties Eeign Anno Domini 1763. 

Samuel Brown and Seal- 
Signed Sealed & Delivered In Presents of us John Bostwick Abraham 
Brown 

Burkshire ss Novbr 1 ; 1763 Personally appeard the within Named Sam- 
uel Brown Sealer of the within Instrument and acknowledgea the Same to 
be his free act and Deed for me Timothy Woodbrido^e Justice Peace 

Received April 12 A: D 1 783 and here recorded Test Brewstei- Higley 
Register. 

The foregoing deed covered a large tract of land east of Lake Bomoseen 
and included the large island therein. On Sept. 2nd 1763, Jesse Bostwick 
conveyed the same to "Amos Bird, of Salisbury, Merchant in the County 
of Litchfield and Colony of Connecticut." 

On the "5th day of November in the Ninth Year of his Majesties Reign, 
Anno Domino 1768," Amos Bird, had this large tract of land containing 
one thousand and five hundred acres accurately surveyed, and deeded to 
Benj. Hopkins, of Armenia Precinct in Dutchess County and Province of 
New York. 

On the "First day of November in the fourteenth year of his Majesties 
Reign, A. D., 1773," Benjamin Hopkins deeded a parcel of land (including 
the island but not mentioning it,) No. 6, containing five hundi-ed acres, to 
Jedediah Dewey, of Bennington, in the Province of New York. 

On the 23d day of August 1774. Jedediah Devvey deeded the same 
pifcce of land to Benjamin Hulburd, of Bennington^ in the Province of New 
York. 

On the 6th day of September 1782, Benjamin Hulburd deeded the same 
to Robert Mason, of Simsbury, in the State of Connecticut. 

On the 11th day of January 1794, Robert Mason deeded the Island to 
George Reab, of Pownal, in the County of Bennington and State of Ver- 
mont. Consideration, eight pounds lawful money. "One certain island 
situated lying and being in Castleton Pond, bounded by said pond shaped 



17 

as follows : Beginning at a white oak stump on the southeast point of said 
island, thence north 19 degrees east on the east side thereof, twenty-six 
rods to a hemlock tree, thence on the said east side north 2 degrees east 
twenty-eight rods to the north-east point thereof, thence north 74 degrees 
west eighteen rods to the northwest point thereof, thence south 21 degrees 
west twenty-nine rods on the west side thereof, thence-south 3 degrees west 
sixteen i-ods to the southwest point thereof, thence south 60 degrees east 
twenty rods to the first bounds begun at, containing seven acres and thirty 
rods of land be the same more or less." 

This is the first sepai-ate conveyance of the island unconnected with the 
land on the eastern shore. 

Certain other pieces of land on the eastern shore having come into the 
possession of George Redb, by separate deeds, he deeded them together 
with the island, on the 27th day of May, 1797, to Marshall Jones, of Adams, 
in the County of Berkshiie and commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

On the 2Sth day of March, 1801, MarshallJones deeded the western por- 
tion of the "Mason or Reab fai-m" to "Samuei Shaw of Castleton, County 
of Eutland and Slate of Vermont, Physician." The island probably was 
intended to be included in this deed but no mention was made of it. 

Dr. Samuel Shaw having died, a portion, if not all, of his property 
fell to his son, Henry Shaw, of Lanesborough in the County of Berkshire 
and State of Massachusetts. 

On the 28th day of May, 1832, Henry Shaw, of Lanesborough, in the 
County of Berkshire, and State of Massachusetts, deeded to John Meach- 
am, of Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont, a certain tract of land de- 
scribed as follows : "Bounded on the west by the pond, called Castleton 
Pond, on the north by land owned by the Gdults, on the east by land 
owned by John Mason 2d; on the south by land owned by 
Noah Hoit, Josejjh Smith and James Smith, being the land deeded by 
Marshall Jones to my father by two several deeds the one dated March 
28th, 1802. the other dated May 21st, 1814, except one humlred acres since 
sold by him to John Mason, 2d, and also the lot bought of David Shepard 
and A. M. Shaw, and also a lot bought of Thomas Gault, of twenty-three 
acres, and also the island in said pond, intending hereby to convey all the 
land lately owned by my father Samuel Shaw deceased, on which William 
Smith now lives in said Castleton, containing five hundred acres be the 
same more or less." 

On the fifth day of September, 1836, John Meacham deeded the island 
to S. H. Langdon, of Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont. Consideration, 
fifty dollars. Description, as follows : " A certain piece or parcel of land 
lying and being in Castleton Pond, so called, in the town of Castleton 
aforesaid and denominated the Island lying south of Cedar Mountain, east 
from Gaius Briggs, north from the Indian Fields and west from the Shaw 
farm, containing six acres, more or less." 

On the 22d day of February, 1860, by virtue of an execution issued by 
the Rutland County Court, the Island under the name of "Chowder Is- 



18 

land," together with several other parcels of land passed into the hands of 
Thomas J. Ormsbee, administrator of the estate cf Julius O. Drake, late of 
Castleton. The decision having been rendered at the September term pre- 
vious. 

On the 7tb day of September, 1860, Thomas J. Ormsbee as administrator 
of the estate of Julius Drake, deeded "Chowder Island situated in Lake 
Bomoseen," to Robert R. Drake, of Pittsford, Rutland County, Vermont, for 
the consideration of one hundred dollars. 

On the 18th day of January, 1869, Robert R. Drake deeded "a certain 
piece or parcel of land situated in Lake Bombazine and commonly called 
and known as "Chowder Island," containing about five acres" to Henry 
Langdon, of Castleton, for the consideration of one hundred dollars. 

On the 26th day of January, 1869, Henry Langdon deeded the Island 
to Selah H. Langdon, of Castleton, a former owner, for the consideration 
of one hundred dollars. 

On the 26th day of December, 1877, S. H. Langdon deeded "a certain 
piece of land in Castleron ; bein;>- an Island or parcel of land in Castleton 
Pond or Lake Bomoseen. and denominated or called the "Island," for the 
consideration of seven hundred and fifty dollars, to John A. Leggett, of 
Dorset, County of Bennington and State of Vermont. Reserving and ex- 
cepting, however, during the life of said S. H. Langdon, the use of twenty - 
four rods of ground, at the north end of said island, lying south of the bay 
or inlet, being four rods wide on said bay and extending south six rods. 

John A. Leggett, having become a bankrupt, the island together with 
his other property, went into the hands of John W. Crampton, of Rutland, 
Vt., as assignee, on the 18th day of Sept'imber, 1878. 

On the 12th day of October, 1878, John "W. Ciampton, assignee of John 
A. Leggett, deeded the island to George W. Chaplin, Jr., of Rutland, Vt., 
for the consideration of seven hundred dollars. 

On the 4th day of November, 1878, George W. Chaplin, Jr., deeded one 
. undivided half of the island to John W. Crampton, for the consideration of 
three hundred and fifty dollars, mentioning the reservation to S. H. Lang- 
don. 

On the 11th day of September, 1880, John W. Crampton and George W. 
Chaplin, Jr., gave a quit claim deed of their interest in the island to Jane 
Barker, of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, mentioning the reservation 
of 24 rods of the north end to S. H. Langdon. 

Robert R. Drake, of Pittsford, Vt., for the consideration of one hundred 
dollars, deeded the the island to Robert H. Drake, of Pittsford, Vt., on the 
11th day of January, 1878. The deed was received at the town clerk's 
office at 4 o'clock and 40 minutes of the same day. The deed given by 
Robert R. Drake to Henry Langdon was given Januai-y 18th, 1869, but wa^^ 
not received at the town clerk's oflftce for record until Januai-y 12th, 1878, 
at 3:30 o'clock, p. m. 



19 

INDIAN HISTORY. 

Almost nothin<j is known of the Indian history of this locality beyond the 
fact that they were known to wander about here when the whites firs* 
came to explore this region. 

Stone implements have been, and are still found not only upon the shore 
of the lake but upon the shore of the island and neighboring hills. Some stone 
hoes show that they once cultivated the island and meadows around the 
lake ; morters and pestles indicate that they had corn to grind and roots 
to pound. Net sinkers, spear points and arrow heads, show that they must 
have lived by tishing and hunting, with ingenuity to spin fibrous barks and 
weeds into thread and tie them into nets. The large quantity of heating 
stones found in clusters along the shores and in the meadows, would in- 
dicate that they cooked their food by heating stones and plunging them 
into water, and it is very probable thai they made maple sugar by the 
same method. 

Stone celts, gouges, knives and cleavers are found in abundance. Also 
hammer-stones or stones for dressing other hard stones for utensils. The 
plain south of the island, known as the Indian Fields, was a great 
resort for some tribe for a long period, both in summei- and winter. In 
the former season, when the water was low in the lake, they came down 
fiom the higher plains and built fires and cooked their food upon the peb- 
b'y beach. Specimens of the fire burnt stones can now be found along 
the shores. Even the atones with which they used in striking fire, I have 
picked up recently. The communication between the island and shore of 
the lake must have been quite frequent and afforded them much pleas- 
ure. I dare say that some of their old canoes will be fished up from the 
sandy bottoms of the lake. But these tribes have all passed away without 
leaving finy legends, or names to any hills, streams, ponds or islands. 

HOUSES ON THE ISLAND. 

The first house that was built on Lake Bomoseen for the accommodation 
of the public, was built by S. H, Langdon, Esq., of Castleton, in 1835, a 
few rods north of the southern extremity of the island. 

It was a one-story building of rough boaj-ds 13 feet square. The lum- 
ber was taken over in a float from Mason's Point and the building erected 
in one day. It v.'as built to acconuuodate pleasure and fishing parties 
free. Mr. Langdon being in the foundry business had some iron cooking 
utensils cast to furnish the house with, which were also tree, provided the 
party who used them should waah them before using. 

The same year, an ice house was built near by, and filled every winter 
for several winters by the same gentlemen. The ice was free to all visitors 
during the summer. Mr. Langilon usually made a bee in filling this ice 
house ; he furnishing dinner and two gallons of rum, and had plenty of 
volunteer help from Castleton to fill the house in one day. And like the great 
conquerer, "who wept that there were no' more worlds to conquer," they 
moui'ned that Mr. Langdon had no more ice' houses to fill. Several years 
subsequently, these houses were burned down, it is supposed, by an 
incendary. 



20 

la 1878, John A. Leggett built the two-story house, now standing upon 
the island, an 1 has been since further improved by Mr. A.. W. Barker, 
who erected another neat little cottage on the soulViwest promontory in 
1880. He also has beautified the grounds by cutting out the under- 
brush, and building a road wide enough for two to walk abreast complete- 
ly encircling the island. 

WHEX THE hSLAND WAS CLKARED. 

When Mr. Mason cleared the island in about 1790, it was covered with a 
he^vy growth of Hemlock and Oak. He cut down the trees, set fire to the 
brush and burnt everything that would burn, but the logs remained to de- 
cay upon the ground. He planted it to Indian corn and in the succeed- 
ing autumn took his hogs over to do the harvesting, as well as to feed up- 
on the acorns ; they became homesick and attempted to swim across to 
their home on Mason's Point. On their way over they cut their own 
thi'oats with their sharp hoofs and bled to death before reaching the shore. 

Mr, Mason was a very pious man and entei-tained many superstitious 
notions. He said he would never again eat the flesh of any animal guilty 
of committing suicide, and adhered to his resolution. He afterward kept 
Saturday instead of Sunday as a day of rest. 

The island was again allowed to grow up to bushes and no use was 
made of it, until 1810, when it was again cleared by the Shaws. The 
trees were mostly white oak and white birch, mixed with a few others com- 
mon to the main land, and many had grown to a gi-eat size. In 1811. the 
island was sowed to wheat ; in 1812 to rye ; in 1813 it was planted to 
Indian corn, with the exception of the east ridge which was sowed to peas. 
In 1814, another crop of rye was raised on it. After that it was put into 
grass and used for pasturing sheep. At length weeds and bushes asseit- 
ed dominion over it and has never since been cleaied. These facts I ob- 
tained from Archibald C. Shaw, now a resident of Castleton above eighty 
years of age, and who helped clear the Island. 

Attempts have been made at vaiious times to use this Island foi- pastur- 
age, but when hogs, cows, oxen and horses wei-e left alone upon it would 
plunge into the water and swim to the main land. Even the present occu- 
pant's cow has repeatedly left those enchanted groves for the freedom of 
the neighboring shores. 

"When Mr. Shaw owned the Island and lived upon Mason's Point, he 
made a raft of logs, covered it with plank and used it for ferrying across 
his teams and produce for several years. He afterwards built a feri-y boat 
for the same pui-pose. The last crop of corn raised on the Island was not 
gathered until the lake had frozen over the succeeding winter. 

THE pig's monument. 

On the southeast Cape* of the Island, a small maible monument was 

*Tliis Cape is called CAPE TAGIICAXXAC or TAGACANNAC POIXT. It is a 
corruption of the worfl TACONIC. Prof. C. B. Adams, of Middlebm-v Collejri; in the 
" Second Annual Report on the Geol(4gj^ of Vermont, iwifi." gives tlie f6llowin;j-<lelini- 
tion : "Taconic is an Indian name ot a range of mounlains next West of the Green 
Mountains in South western Vermont and Jlassacliiisplls, now applied to llie rocks 
next west of the Green ^Mountains." This beautiful rocky jioint helong-s to that geo- 
logical formation and the term seems to be wondei-fullv a|)propriate. As the Islaud 
of'NESHOBE is aiiproached from the South TAGHijANXAC POINT stands out 
prominently to the Eastward. 



21 

erected in 1876, to the memory of a remarkable pig-, the property of Chas. 
G. Child, Escj., of Sheffield, Mass. It has since been desecrated by some 
ruthless hand who has defaced the inscription. The following' extracts 
from Mr. Child's letter will give the histoi-y of the circumstances : 

Sheffield, Mass, June 19, 1881. 
Dr. John M. Currier — 

Decu-Sir: — Yours of the 16fh instant came duly to hand, and in reply 
would say that during: the Centennial there was a Legion formed called 
the Centennial Legion, composed of one military company from each of 
the original Thirteen States, to make a parade on the Fourth of July, at 
Philadelphia The Old Guard, of which 1 was a member, represented 
New ""lork, and I went with them. We, the old guards, entertained the 
southern companies in New York, and Mr. William Emerson Baker, of 
Boston, had arranged for our Southern brethren an encampment at his 
country place near that city (Welesley), and his committee came to New 
York to receive them, insisted that a delegation of our committee should 
go with them to Boston. About six of the Old Guards went. It was a 
royal aflfair and lasted one week, after which we all returned home. At 
ihe la.st dinner, at each plate on the table lay a glass bottle, shaped 
like a piy, filled with brandy ; thei-e was m.ne at mine, but during speech- 
making after dinnei-, I was presented with a beautiful basket boquet, ap- 
parently, but upon opening it, was found to contain two live pigs. Pigs 
were a great hohl>y with Mi-. Baker ; his piggery alone costing some five 
thousand dollars ; whei-e he kept all kinds, and this breed of which he 
presented me a pair, was given to him by the Queen of En.land a few 
years previous, and was of the famous Berkshire breed I had these 
pigs sent by express to Castleton ; one was smothered and the other was 
kept at friend Langdon's. One day W. F. Bixby photographed it for me, 
aftei- which it died ; what was the cause none of us knew. 1 had it buried 
up on the Island in the lake ; on the tombstone was put : Fraternal 
Welcome A Pig Died Berkshire. The name "Fraternal Wel- 
come" was from Mr. Baker's fete, which v/as called that. It was my in- 
tention to have raised here and sent during the fall following a young pig 
to each of the companies who were present at the fete, so have a sort of a 
barbacue or reunion, but like many other plans, it lailed. 

I would say here that this fete of Mr. Barker's was a "big thing." It 
cost him some ii;25,000, and was heralded all over the south, (the aflFair, 
not the cost), and was, I believe, the means of doing a great deal of good 
towards "healing ihe breach," as this was the first instance of southern 
military visiting the north since the war. 

The Washington Light Infantry, of Charleston, represented South 
Carolina ; Fayettsville Independent Light Infantry, of Fayettsville, North 
Carolina; Norfolk Blues, Virginia, and others I cannot think of just now. 

Hastily Yours Respectfully, 

Chas. G. Child. 

The remains of the pig were put into a casket and taken to the Island 
for burial. John Doolan, John P. Ryan, James J. Sweeney and William 
H. Burke, acted as bearers. Their services were paid for in cigars and 
whisk-^y. The marble monument was engraved by T. Smith Sherman. 
Mr. Langdon, referred to by Mr. Child, was at the Centennial in Phila- 
delphia when the pig died, when he returned, as his old cronies framed 
the story, he took his prayer book and a bottle of lager, went over to the 
Island and read the Episcopal burial service ever the pig's grave. 



22 

GUIDES AMD BOATMEN. 

Every summer resort in rural districts, whether of mountain, river, lake 
or mineral spring-s, has its gui<les peculiar to themselves, and are noted 
characters. Travelers and strang-ers accost them by their Chiistian 
names ; their stories are learned before they themselves are known. They 
are always genial and obliging- ; ever ready to do you a favor without ex- 
orbitant charges. Strangers treat them with respect and familiarity. 
Everybody wants to hear their stories, not to learn anything, but to hear 
th*"m fresh from the lips wf the original nari-ator. They always have some 
pet' stories to relate when asked. These stories have all been trimmed, 
spliced, straightened and polished to suit the ears of summer travel. 

No sooner is a party seated around the camp fire, or lunching upon 
some half way rock than they begin to demand a rehersal of their stock of 
stories. 

As the cooling waters of Lake Bomoseen, its shady groves and rocky 
shores are becoming more noted, its boatmen and fishermen are I'ipening 
ofiF their stock of stories for the market of city boardei'S, equal to any 
watering place in New England. "Jack" Parsons is a neat and handy 
man with the oars ; he has resided all his days on the shores of the Lake ; 
knew when it was called Castleton Pond ; he knows every "sucker hole," 
and the "best place to dig bait." He once testifii^d in court about the 
depth of mud near the Johnston bridge that he "run a ten foot pole, twenty 
feet into the mud." 

But the best story he tells is his fish story, and runs about as follows : 
"Many years ago he went over to the Island fishing ; among the necessary 
artic'es for the expedition, he took a gallon of whiskey along with him. 
Aftei" fishing a while, he thought he would take a drink ; he took up the 
jug and it slipped into the water down deep out of sight. The rest of the 
day was spent in trying to fish up his dear companion, but was un- 
successful. Others, subsequently, on learning of the prize beneath the 
waves, tried their luck at fishing, but were equally unsuccessful. 

The cork, being lighter than water floated to the surface; a small fish 
descended into the jug and began to feed on its contents; it rapidly grew in 
size, and at length was imprisoned for life in earthen walls. "Jack" often 
fished over this spot because he fancied he could smell the breath of his 
departed friend upon the surface of the Lake. Ten years afterwards he 
was at this spit fishing, and happened to let his hook drop directly into 
the mouth of the jug. The fish that had been so long without anything 
but liquid food, seized the bait immediately . "Jack" pulled hard at the 
line ; at first he thought he was hold of a root, but another pull brought it to 
the surface, and he had the exquisite pleasure of again beholding his favor- 
ite jug. He tipped it up to pour out the water and discovered the fish which 
exactly filled the jug, excepting one glass of whisky that had not been 
used up by the fish as food. This he poured out and drank to the health 
of Nepture, who so miraculously restored to him his jug and had given 
him a fish, bulk for bulk, equal to his whisky. 



23 

How should he get the fish out and not break the jug, was the next 
question. He drew his boat upon the beach, set his jug upon the sand, 
kindled a fire around it, steamed his fish in the few remaining drops of 
whisky. When it was cooked he eat upon a rock and ate his dinner with 
a cork-screw. 

Dr. A. T. Wooflward of Brandon, delivered the following 
reminisences of Lake Bomoseen : 

When I was told that it was your purpose to celebrate this day at Lake 
Bomoseen, on whose placid waters and lovely shores I had dreamed away 
80 many idle hours of youth. I was so much elated by the anticipated 
pleasure it would give me to be with you, that I impulsively promised 
some remarks on the occasion, in the line of reminisences. If the time 
allotted did not caution me, I should, notwithstanding, have observed the 
the poet's sage advice. 

"Ay, free, off ban", your story tell. 

When wi' a bosom crony ; 
But still keep something: to yoursel' 

Ye'll scarcely tell to ony." 

For fear of betraying myself into telling all I do know upon this point. 
Many years have gone by since the people of Castleton adopted this child 
of beauty, claiming it as one of the most eharming features in the physical 
organization of their town, and I am glad to know that they have finally 
decided to christen it at this time. And I wish the idea of christening 
had been carried still further that a new name, and an appropriate one 
could have been given to the lake as well. 

The inhabitants, residing upon the borders of this lake whose opportu- 
nities for observation cannot be impeached, affirm that this island has oc- 
cupied its present site for centuries— and that its existence, during this 
long period, as an island, is due wholly to the presence of neighboring 
waters — and it was discovered at an early period, that there was vastly 
more water to the acre, in some places than in others. Notably so on the 
west side of the island, where, as I was informed and believed in youth, it 
was bottomless. Very likely this Sabbath school story is puzzling the 
wits of some of the boys of the present. 

I remember very well how I puzzled over this story , an(i I now say, that, 
if it is really true what a misfortune had this island been posted only a 
few rods westward of its present position. A submerged island, however 
unique and picturesque, would furnish very moist standing acccommoda- 
tions for a 4th of July picnic party. Occupying its present position for so 
long a period it *may be safely conjectured that it was once the favorite 
haunt of the native American, who sometimes came here on the sly, surely 
if he had any of the sentimentality that marks the pale-faced youth, to 
woo his forest maiden. There is no positive proof that this place was 
ever decorated with a wigwam. I shall not say that it ever was. What I 
do maintain, is, that if there ever was a wigwam on this island it would 
be in the usual order to assume that curling smoke could have been seen 
issuing therefrom, A wigwam without the conventional curling smoke, 



24 

would not be tolerated by the student of Cooper for one minute, and any 
hisloiian who shall ever attempt to palm of such a fraud upon a reading 
public, will lun great risk of departing early, by the assistance of a justly 
indignant people. 

The island and opposite shores, and especially that region known as the 
"Indian fields," have yielded a fair return in stone airow-heads, spear- 
heads, pestles etc., etc., to the explorer after Indian relics. For centuries 
the savage held quiet and sole possession of this whole region. Peaceable 
and contented to eat the game he had captured — without giving a thought 
to congressional matters or state rights. This was bef('re Bourbon was 
discovered. 

The first white man who set his white ash sails upon these waters, or 
grounded his dug-out upon the island beach, (if I am correctly informed,) 
was Hart Langdon. After diligent search in gazeteer and cyclopaedia, and 
many inquiries of old settlers, I am forced to credit Hart with the honor 
of discoverer and first settler of this charming spot. If hereafter it should 
be shown that this statement is not wholly true, I shall be sorry for the 
ti'uth, as this version is in perfect harmony with my early impressions, and 
I am sure it will be satisfactory to every person in Castleton, unless he be 
some inci-ed lous nobody. 

We find that Hart was not the lone occupant, but that others cume from 
time to time, until a goodly colony grew up, composed of men whose 
names may be familiar to some of you who are present to-day. Conspicu- 
ous am'^ng whom were Jim and Jule Drake, Dave Wilkinson, Bill Col- 
burn, Jule and Staver Buel, Bill Bansier, Tin Tously, Jack Goodwin and 
many others, equally renowned for numerous and uncertain exploits. For 
years this colony claimed all the rights and privileges of the squatter, and 
if I mistake not, bagged all the game and absorbed all the fun of the day. 
They never cultivated the soil to any great extent. Almost the only ci-op 
raised was cane, generally. No very great battles were waged during 
this period, still it is rumoi-ed that a great many broils were gotten up, 
which, however, the jiarticipants managed to put down in a satisfactory 
way. The first building erected to provide in any way for the visitor's 
comfort, was an ice-house which furnished cool comfort indeed. 

It has been intimated with suj-jiiise and astonishment that evil spirits 
have been seen to hover about the island. Some friends once tried to nake 
me believe this story, by telling me where some of the horns appertaining, 
could be found. 

At this stage my memory dulls. We have from youth been a frequent 
visitor of this lovely island, and have spent our happiest hours upon it. 
The day and night have both found us the same constant admirer. Here 
we have watched with unceasing pleasure the purple twilight deepen into 
the dark shadows of midnight, and have, with increasing emotion seen the 
gray of dawn mingle its light with the black depths below. The emotions 
inspired by early associations and the presence of this charming spot can- 
not be belter expressed than by the lines of the lamented Ludlow, in an 
apostrophe to the Hudson. 



25 

"Oh, most noble river, what hast thou not been to mel In childhood thy 
ripnles were the playmates of my perpetual leisure, dancing up the sandy 
sti-etches of thy brink and telling: laughing- tales of life's beaming spray 
and sunshine In after years the grand prophet of a wider life, thine ebb 
sang chants to the imperial ocean, into whose pearly palaces thou was 
hastening, and thy flood brot' up the resounding history of the infinate sur- 
ges whence thou hads't returned. It is not thine to come stealing from 
unnamed fountains of mystery, nor to crown thy sublime mountains with 
the ruined battlements of a departed age ; but more than Nile hath God 
glorified thee, and nature hath hallowod thy walls with her own armorial 
bearing:^ till thou are more reverend than Rhin^;. On thy guarding peaks 
Antiquity sits enthroned, asking no register in the crumbling monuments 
of man, but bearing her origmal scepter from Him who first founded her 
domain beside thy immcirtal flow." 

A. N. Adams of Fair Haven delivered the following histor- 
ical address : 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Rutland County Historical Society : 

Convening as we do here to-day on the shores of this beautiful lake, 
Burnmnded by these green hills, to celebrate the declaration of our na- 
tional independence, of July 4th, 1776, an hundred and five years ago ; 
is it not well for us to take into account also and to consider that other 
declaration, not so noted in history perhaps, but memorable to us and no 
leas interesting, made a little later in foi-m but conceived equally as early 
in the spirit ; that of the convention of Green Mountain Boys at West- 
minster on the Connecticut rivei, Jan. 17, 1777. (?) That declaration reads 
as follows : 

"This convention, whose members are duly chosen by the free voice of 
their constituents in the several towns on the New Hampshire Grants, in 
public meeting assembled, in our own names and in behalf of our constit- 
uents, do hereby proclaim and publicly declare that the district of terri- 
tory comprehending and usually known by the name and description of 
the New Hampshire Grants, of right ought to be, and is hereby declared 
forever hereafter to be, considered as a free and independent jurisdiction 
or state ; to be forever hereafter called, known and distinguished by the 
name of New Connecticut, alias Vermont, The inhabitants are declared 
entitled to all the rights, jirivileges and immunities of the inhabitants of any 
of the free and independent states of Amei-ica, the same to be regulated 
by a bill of rights." 

It is not easy, I am aware, for us at this distance, in the midst of the 
wonderful and changing scenes of our modern life, to realize the condition 
of thinj;s which existed in this territory, up and down these hills and val- 
leys of this western slope of the Green Mountains, at the time this declar- 
ation was made. 

Bennington had been chartered by the governor of New Hampshire as 
early as 1749, but no attempts at settlement of any note appear to have 
been made, either there or otherwhere, on the west side of the mountains, 



26 

until after the close of the Frenfh war in 1760. The settlement of Ben- 
nington began in the sprit. g of 1761, and from that time onward there was 
a considei-atile immigration into vaiious localities within our goodly land. 
Over thii ty towns were chartered by New Hampshire west of the moun- 
tains, in the year 1761. In the northern parts, toward Canada, some 
twenty towns were chartered in 1762 and '63. The towns chartered in this 
vicinity xyere : Pawlet and Danhy Aug. 26th ; Mt. Tabor, (then Harwick.) 
Aug. 2Sth ; Slii-ewsbui-y, Sept. 4th ; Clarendon, Sept. .^th ; Rutland, Sept. 
7th ;. Tinmouth and Wells, Sept. 15th ; Poultney, Sept. 21at ; Castleton, 
Sept. 22nd ; Bi-andon, (then Neshobee,) Oct. 20th ; and Wallingford Nov. 
27th, all in 1761 ; Sudbury was chai-tereil Aug. 6th, and Orwell Aug. Sth, 
1763; Hubbai-dton, June 15th, and Pitt^ford. June 16lh, 1764. Ben.son 
and Fair Haven, (then incluiiing West Haven,) nut until Oct. 27th, 1779. 

Few of the towns besides Bennington and Ailington were much settled 
immediately following the giants — the grantees weie principally propri- 
etors, not settlers. Pawlet was the liisttown chartered in what is now 
Rutland county ; but Mr. HoUister states in his histoiy, that thei-e were 
but nine families in that town in 1770, — nine years after the date of the 
chai'ter ; — and settlements were slow until after the surrender of Burgoyne 
in Oct. 1777. There were ^'t-e families in the town of Addi.son on the Lake 
in 1768. Fifteen persons settled in Panton in the summer of 1764 — A few 
persons came into Shoreham in 1766. It is stated that there were less than 
fifteen families in Whiting before the war of the Revolution, (1775.) Mr. 
Samuel Smith moved his family into Bridpoit in 1773, and was the 
second permanent s<4tler in tii at town. A. number of families came into 
Middlebury just befoi-e the war, in 1774. Ira Allen and Remember Baker 
made their pitch on the Winooski river in the spring of 1773, and there 
were about forty families in that region, near the lake, at the commence- 
ment of the Revolution. Besides these there does not appeal- to have 
been any other settlements or settlers worthy of mention, north of the 
present bounds of Rutland county, until 1774, or just before the breaking 
out of the war of the Revolution. 

Within our county the most considerable early settlement was in Claren- 
don and Rutland, although Castleton may claim to have ha I a settlement 
the same year as Rutland, 1770, and Col. Bird and Noah Lee visited the 
country two years before, the same y^ar that Clarendon was settled. 

Clarendon was chartered by New Hampshire Sept. 5, 1761, but the set- 
tlers of 1768 had a lease fi-om one Capt. John Henry Leydins, an Indian 
trader of Albany, who claimed to have purchased a ti-act of land of the 
Mohawk Indians in 1732, and who haci ha<l it contirined to him by Gov. 
Shirley of Massachusetts, in 1744. A patent was issued by Gov. Dun- 
more of New York, dated April 3ril, 1771, which included Rutland, Pitts- 
fiird and about 4 square miles of Clarendon, and this grant was nansed 
"Socialboro." Another patent issued by Gov. Tryon of New York, Jan. 7, 
1772, covers Clarendon and Wallingford, and calls the place • 'Durham," a 
name by which it was fivquently designated by the early inhabitants. 
The first settlers under the Lydius title, who bad cleared ami impi-oved 



27 

the lands, joined hands with one James Duane, a New York city land-job- 
ber, and procured this patent from Gov. Tryon of New York in June 1772 
as an offset or defence against the clai nants under the New Hampshire 
title. This led to a violent contest. Duane sent a Scotchman, Will Cock- 
bourn, to survey the lands in the summer of 1771. He surveyed the main 
street running through Clarendon and Rutland ; but the New Hampshire 
men drove him off, and would not allow him to finish. 

Rutland, too, is said to have been grantt^d by Lydius in 1761, and called 
Fairfield. The New York claims to Socialboro on Rutland territory, do not 
appear to have amounted to anything. When Cockbourn attempted to 
purvey, men dressed as Indians threatened him, and he left. The Rutland 
settlers appear to have been fi-iends of the New Hampshire title. "The first 
settlement of Rutland," says Mr. Henry Hall, "occurred in March 1770." 
Three children were boi-n in Rutland this yeai- 1770, the first of the Anglo- 
Saxon race born in our now thi-iving county seat. "In 1770," says Mr. 
Hall, "the best land sold for a few cents an acre, there was not a wagon 
or bridge in the town — no grist-mill nigher than Skeensboro or Benning- 
ton. In 1773, three yeais later, Rutland had thii-ty-five families." 

Pittsfoi'd had two settlei-s on the banks of Otter Creek in 1769. At the 
breaking out of the Revolution six years afterward there were thirty fami- 
lies in Pittsford. Col. Amos Bird and Noah Lee had found their way from 
Salisbury, Conn, via Manchester, Claivndon, Rutland, Crown Point and 
Skeensboro, into Castleton, in the spi-ing of 1767. It is said they found a log 
hut in Danby on their way up, inhabited by one solitary man where they 
lodged over night. Col. Bird camped for a night on Bird Mountain, which 
derives its name fi-om him. Having built a log-cabin on the place after- 
ward known as the "Clark farm" now Seneca Field's, he went back to Con- 
necticut for the wintei". Coining again the following season, 1768, he left Col. 
Lee and a coloi\-il man to keep the cabin and place. Ephraim Bird.Eleazer 
Bartholomew and Zadock Remington came with their families in May 1770 
and were the first and only settlers in Castleton, after Bird and Lee, of 
that year. Col. Bird built a saw-mill at Hydeville, (long called, as some of 
usremember, "Castleton Mills ;") In 1773 he built a grist-mill, and con- 
ti-acting a fever, died that year, having twice sent to Connecticut for a 
physician who visited him. He was a young man in his 30th year, and 
died greatly lamented. Between 1770 and 1775 settlers came in so fast 
that ill 1775 there were thirty familes and 8 or 10 unmarried rren in the 
town of Castleton. 

The settlement of Poultney did not begin till 1771. A large number of 
families came into the town in the fall of that year, but had to go to Man- 
chester, thirty miles away, to pi-ocure corn and get it ground ; a mill was 
built at the East village in 1776. 

Mr. Samuel Churchill settled with his family in Hubbardton in the 
spring of 1775. Fair Havftn, Westhaven and Benson had no settlements. 
There were a few families in Brandon as early as 1773. Three settlers 
only were in Wells in 1771 ; scarcely more than that in Tinmouth and 
Wallingford ; none that we hear of in Shrewsbury. We do not learn that 



28 

Sudbury or Chittendt-n was settled or had any corporate existence prior 
to the Revolution. 

At the beginning of the Revolution there whs really no government in 
this state— The counti-y was claimed by both New Hampshire and New 
York, but the settleis acknowledged the authority of neither. By the 
New York authorities the counti-y on the e&sit side of the mountains as 
far as the Concecticut river, was divided into too counties, Cumbeiland 
covering what is now Windham and Windsor, and Gloucester to the north 
extending fiom Cumberland to the Canada line. On the west side of the 
mountains they tirst included everything in Albany county — Later, Mai-ch 
12, 1772, they formed a new county, north of what is now Bennington 
county, extending to Canada and including several towns now belonging 
to New York, to wit, Skeensboro' (or Whitehall,) Greenfield— ( now Hamp- 
ton) — Kingsbury, Fort Ann, Fort Edward, and Argyle. This new county 
they named Charlotte, and Skeensboro'was the county seat. Col. Philip 
Skeene being commissioned the first judge (>fthe court, but Skeensboro 
was found to be an unsafe place for the court and it was removed to Fort 
Edward — The first session held there was in 1773, at the house of one 
Patrick Smith. 

Upon the organization of our state government in 1778 the who'e terri- 
tory west of the mountains became and constituted the county of Benning- 
ton (Feb. 11, 1779) By act of the General Assembly in 1781. all north of 
the present limits of Bennington county was made into a county by the 
name of Rutland. The petitioners who made the application to the Octo- 
ber session of the previous year, 1780, had proposed that the new county 
be named Washington ; The bill for its incorporation was passed Nov. 8, 
the General Assembly being at Bennington, but it was hud over by the 
advice of the Council until the next session. At the next session, held at 
Windsor, a new bill was passed Feb. 13, 1781, and the name was made 
Rutland, instead of Washington. 

Addison county was next taken off from Rutland by act of the legisla- 
ture Oct, 18, 1785. Tinmouth was the county seat of Rutland territory 
and the courts were held in a large log house of two rooms, one room 
being the tavern of Solomon Bingham. The jail was made of logs and 
stood a mile away. 

The settlers had purchased their lands and titles of the government of 
New Hampshiie, New Hampshire having giante<i a chartei* to Bennington 
in 1749, and it was supposed that New Hanipshire owned as far westward 
as Massachusetts. But New Yoik set uj) a counter claim to ownership 
and jurisdiction, based on a vague grant of Charles II to his brother, the 
Duke of York, an hundred yeais before— There was legally and justly no 
title but that of settlement and possession— Being resisted in their usurped 
exercise of power over the country the authoiities of New York, who were 
largely under the influence of speculators and land jobbers, appealed to 
the crown, and obtained a decision, July 20, 1764, which they construed 
in their favor — Emboldened and encouraged by this decision Lieut Gov- 
ernor Golden began selling patents of lands which had been previously 



29 

granted by New Hampshire. By the 1st of Nov. 1765 he had ^-anted 
military patents 1200 acres within the present limits of the county of Rut- 
land, piir.cipally in Benson, Fair Haven and Pawlet. Gov. Colden was 
succeeded in 1766 by Sir Henry Moore who continued to issue patents of 
lands in this disti-ict. The settlers sent Mr Samuel Robinson to London 
with a petition to the king- for relief — He succeeding in obtaining an order 
dated July 24, 1767, forbidding, in jieremptory words, any further grants 
by the governor of New York of patents in the disputed territory. Gov, 
Mooi-e obeyed the order so far as to leave the people in comparative quiet 
for a time, but upon Gov. Moore's death, which occurred in Sept. 1769, 
Gov. Colden again came into power, and on the pretense that the king's 
order had been misundei'stood by Gov. Moore, he proceeded to issue both 
civil and military grants of the disputed territory. 

Agents were sent fi-om Bennington and Manchester to consult with the 
governor of New Yoi-k, but they found him fully in the interest of the city 
land-jobbers, and that he had already sold 26,000 acres of their best lands 
in Manchester. Sunderland and Arlington to lawyer Kempe and others of 
New York city. These speculatoi's knew that the lands had been taken 
up under New Hampshire charters, and that the King had forbidden any 
further molestation of the people. Can we blame thes e hardy and long 
suffering inhabitants of our Green Mountains that they resisted such out- 
rage ? Would we not (mrselves be doing as they did under like provoca- 
tion ? The New York authorities assumed and undertook not only to resell 
the lands and to enforce wi-its of ej^-ctment, but to appoint civil officers, 
justices of the peace and sherifi's in the midst of the disaffected people. 

From 1770 till the breaking out of the Revolution the territory of the 
New Hampshii'e Grants is a scene of perpetual conflicts with the New York 
authoi'ities. The air is full of turmoil. The great body of the settlers are 
united in resivSting the enfoniement of the New York claims, but a few 
among them support the New York parties and accept offices from the 
New York government. 

Ethan Allen comes to Bennington in 1770, from Salisbury, Conn., and 
takes hold with the settlers to defend their claims. Judgments of eject- 
ment having been found in the courts at Albany, the inhabitants in .Ben- 
nington unite for resistance. A number of them are proclaimed as "lio" 
ters." One is appi-ehended and carried off to Albany where he is impris- 
oned for several mcnths, one John Munroe, a resident of Bennington but a 
justice of the peace under New York authority, acting as deputy-sheriff 
and assisting in the capture. The inhabitants now organize and arm them- 
selves, choosing Seth Warner for captain. Other companies are organized 
in other towns. Allen becomes colonel ; and they are now and henceforth 
known as "the Gi'een Mountain Boys." There business is to enforce law 
and justi;e in the name of the people and for the public good. They are a 
bold, fearless set of men, not ignorant of forms of law ami methods of ad- 
ministration. They know their rights, and stand up like men to maintain 
them. By their energy, pluck and perseverance after a long time they 
win their long sought prize, they conquer peace, but it is only 1o leave it, 



30 

for the most part, to their children an 1 to us who follow them in these 
green fieliis and pastures g-rand and beautiful of our g'ondly hei-itage We 
are debtors to those noble, heroic men for the freeilom of the state of Ver- 
mont. 

But how long and persistently they wroug-ht? They sent agents to 
the king ; They petitioned ; they waited. Committees from the 
several towns met at Manchester, Aug. 27, 1772, and made 
answer in a mihi and conciliatory manner to a reproachful let- 
ter from Gov. Tryon, dated Aug. 11th. They met again in October 
■when they decreed ''That no person on the Gi-ants should accept or hold 
any office under the authority of New York," and "all civil and military 
officers who had accepted under the authority of New York were i-equired 
to suspend their functions on the pain of being 'viewed ; ' " also ''that no 
person should take grants or confirmation of grants under the government 
of New York." 

A number- of persons in Durham and Socialboro {alias Clarendon) who 
were interested in the New York claims and titles, had accepted offices 
and presumed to act as the officers of New Yoi-k. One Benjamin Spencer, 
of Durham, whom Ii-a Allen, in his history, charactei-izes as "an artful, de- 
signing man" was active as a York justice and assistant judge. He com- 
plamed in letters to Mr. Duane of New York, in April. 1772, that the New 
Hampshire men made it unsafe for him. He was warned by a visit of 
Ethan Allen and an hundi-ed Green Mountain Boys, to delist from his ac- 
tions, but as he did not but continued to issu^ writs against the New 
Hampshire men, Allen and his boys made Durham a second visit, going 
to Spencer's house at 11 o'clock Saturday night, Nov. 20. 1773 and taking 
him into custody. They then put him under guard at the house of one 
"Green" until Monday morning, when he was allowed a trial in front of 
his own house, the i)lace being chosen by himself. A lai-ge number, 
amounting to 130 of the Green Mountain B,)ys, had assembled, many of 
them with arms, to witness the proceedings. Allen made an ad<lres3, say- 
ing that "the proprietors of the New Hampshire Grants had| appointed 
himself, Seth Warner, Remember Baker and Robert Cochran to inspect 
and set things in order, ami see that there should be no intruders on the 
grants," declaring, among other things; that "Durham ha(l liecame a nest 
of hornets, which must be broken up." They then held their "judgment 
seat," and, finding him guilty of offenses chai-gnd, declared his house a 
nuisance and gave sentence that it should be desti-oyed. At the sugges- 
tion of Warner the roof only was taken off, upon Spencer promising not to 
act further under New York. 

In Nov. 1773, Jacob Marsh, a York justice of the peace of Socialboro 
while passing through Ai-lington on his way home from New York, waa 
also arrested and tried foi his offenses at the house of Abel Hawley. He 
alleges that there were thirty persons present, that Seth Warner and Re- 
member Baker were the captains and leaders of the mob, and they ap- 
pointed three men, Samuel Tubbs, Nathaniel Spencer and Philip Perry to 
be judges. Baker insisted that he should be sentenced to receive the 



31 

"beach-seal" — be whipped — but the sentence of the judges was read by 
Warner and was to the effect that he should not act any further as justice 
of the peace under a New York commission, "upon pain of having his 
house burned and reduced to ashes, and his pei'son punished at their 
pleasure." They gave him a written certificate signed by the judges not to 
meddle with him further "as long as he behaves " On arriving at Claren- 
don he found some forty or fifty men led by John Smith, Peleg Sundei-- 
lan.l, Benj. Cooley and Sylvanus Brown had unroofed his house. The 
New York Assembly upon petition of Benj. Hough offered a reward of 
£100 for the appi-ehension of Allen and Baker and £50 for either Warner, 
Cochran, Sunderland, Smith oi' Brown. 

On March 9, 1714 the Assembly passed the noted "most minatory and 
despotic act" against the Green Mountain Boys, adjudging them "if they 
do not surrender within seventy days, to be guilty of, convicted and at- 
tainted of felony, and punished with death without trial or benefit of 
clergy." 

At a general meeting of committees from the towns in April it was re- 
solved to arouse with united resolutions adequate to the emergency. The 
proscribed persons issued an address, answei'ing, that though any person 
"may have a license by the law afoi-esaid to kill us and an indemnification 
for such murder from the same authority, yet they have no idemnification 
for so doing from the Green Mountain Boys ;" and, furthermore, we will 
kill and destroy any person or persons whomsoever that shall presume to 
be accessory, aiding or assisting in taking any of us." 

Only Benj. Hough, a Baptist minister of Durham, who was a York 
justice (if the peace, attempted any further opposition or trouble to the 
Green Mountain Boys — His acts became so annoying that it was determin- 
ed to silence him. On the night of the 26th of Dec. 1774 he was arrested 
by a party of his neighboi-s and cai-ried to Sunderland, where, on Monday 
Jan. 30, 177o, he was formally tried for his offences, Ethan Allen, Seth 
Warner, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sundei-land, James Mead, Gideon Warren 
and Jesse Sawyer acting as judges. They sentenced liira "to be tied to a 
tree and receive 200 lashes on the naked back and to depart the New 
Hampshire Grants and not return again." The sentence being read to 
him by Allen, he was tied to a tree in front of Allen's house and whipped, 
Allen and Warner gave him, at his request, a certificate of the punish- 
inei.t and "a free and unmolested passport towai'd the city of New York 
01" to the westward of our Grants," and he left to become a beggar on the 
streets ofNewYoi-k, The New York Assembly offered additional re" 
wards for the apprehension of the judges in this trial, but we are not in- 
formed that any of t'aera were ever caught. 

On the breaking out of the Revolution in 1775. all other issues were 
largely overshadowed and absorbed in it ; yet the Green Mountain Boys 
did not wholly forget and neglect their civil affairs. As Dr. Williams 
says, in his history, of their conflicts with the New York parties, "they 
had no other way of transacting their affairs than to collect together and 
ioUow the advice of the most active and ambitious of their leaders," so 



32 

when the British forces were approaching- and they weie called on for sup- 
plies and men, their only course was to meet together and ag-ree on what 
should be done. Of the 270 men who had tralhered at Castleton in May 
of this year, 1775, for the expedition against Ticomlerog-a, 230 of them 
were Green Mountain Boys, who hail volunteered to go, and wanted Allen 
for their colonel and leader. They owed no allegiance to Massachusetts 
or Connecticut, and Benedict Arnold's commission, under which he assay- 
ed to take the command, was of no force or authority with them, except- 
ing so far as they chose to accept and acknowledge it. So, also, in regard 
to civil govei-nmenf, they were on their own oars. By meetings of towns, 
committees, and general consent and co-operation, they had got along for 
several years, and having a taste of free<lom and self-government, 
the air of the mountains became the congenial breathing place of freedom. 

Ttie question was, what should be done? Some of the leading men went 
to Phila'lelphia in the fall of 1775 to get the advice of Congi-ess. On Jan. 
16, 177t3 a convention met at Dorset, which drew up a petition to Congress 
"from that pai-t of America, being south of Canada line, west of Connecti- 
cut river, commonly called and known by the name of the New Hampshir 
Grants." They declai'e their willingness to bear their propoi'tion in the 
war, but are not willing to submit to the authority of New York, and ask to 
be called upon not as inhabitants of New York, but of the New Ham|>shire 
Grants. Congress did not favor them and the petition was withdrawn. 

After the declaration of the 4th of July 1776, New York, undertaking to 
enforce the collection of rents, the old conflict was reviving. To ascertain 
what the pi-evailing opinion was, and what should be done in the case 
a general convention was called by circular letters. This convention met 
at Dorset July 24, 177G, and consisted of 51 members, representing 35 
towns. 

The convention agreed to enter into an in<lependent association for the 
defence of the liberties of the country, but wcmld not associate with either 
of the counties or the Provincial congi-ess of New York. The convention 
met again m September (25) and resolved, without a dissenting vote, to 
take suitable measuie^, as soon as may be, to declare the New Hampshire 
Grants a free and separate district." 

Accordingly, in January 1777, a general convention of representatives 
from the towns on both sides of the mountains met at Westminster on the 
Connecticut river. It convened in the cmrt house on Wednesday the 15th, 
Capt. James Bowker of Rutland, in the chair. Capt. Bowker and Capt. 
Heman Allen of Rutland, and Cant. John Hall of Castleton, appear to have 
been the only delegates from the present Rutland county territory. The 
convention adjourned till next day, (Thursday 16th,) when a committee 
made report "that more than three fourths of the people in Cumberland and 
Gloucester counties that have acted, are for a new state ; the rest we 
view as neuters." It was then voted, "that the dish-ict of land called and 
known by the name of the New Hampshire Grants be a new and sepai'ate 
state, and for the future conduct themselves as such." Nathan Clai-k, 



33 

Esq., Mr. Ebenezer Hosington, Capt. John Burnham, Mr. Jacob Burton 
and Col. Thomas Chittenden were chosen a commitete "to prepare a draft 
for a declaration." 

The convention was adjourned to Friday the 17, and on that day, the 
declaration, giving birth to our proud little commonwealth, was formally 
re-ported and adopted. We are not informed who drew it ; but it prem- 
ises, as a reason and right for the inhabitants thus to act, "that whenever 
protection is withheld no allegance is due, or can of right be demanded ; 
that whenever the lives and properties of a part of a community, have 
been manifestly aimed at by either the legislature or executive authority 
of such community, necessity requires a separation." "Your committee 
are of the opinion that such has, for many years, been the conduct of the 
monopolizing land-claimers of the colony of New York." 

The committee refer to the resolution of Congress of the previous May 
recommending to the several colonies to form governments, where none 
such exist, suitable to the exigencies of their affairs ; and it was agreed 
by the convention to send a statement of their action to Congress and ask 
for representation therein — Committees of war and police were appointed 
on each side of the mountains, and the convention was adjourned to meet 
at Windsor on the 5th Wednesday in June following. The committee to 
make the statement to Congress, were Jonas Fay, Thos. Chittenden, He- 
man Allen, and Reuben Jones. This statement and petition was drawn 
up at once, and dated at Westminister Jan. 15, 1777, the the day conven- 
tion opened. It is an able and well-written, statesman-like document. 

Thus our state became an independent republic, a commonwealth by it- 
self, owning no allegiance to any other power. The contest with New 
York, however, was not yet over. For 14 years longer, until Feb. 18, 
179] — did these noble men struggle and contend for the acknowledgement 
of their rights and their admission into the union on an equal footing with 
others. 

It would be interesting to trace the history of this long, patient, heroic 
and statesman -like struggle. Only in Motley's pages of the Dntch Repub- 
lic, do we tind anything like it. But the limits of my time will uol admit 
of even an outline. 

I rejoice with you, today, that we are what we are, a commonwealth 
of freeman born tt> know our rights and to maintain them. 

Mr. Rowland Walters, of Poultney, delivered a poem in the 
Welsh Language on Lake Bomoseen, written expressly for the 
celebrUtion. This is the poem : 

O fryniau Meirion estron wyf, 
Yn y wlad, estronol ydTrf, — 
Yn aros mewn dwfn hiraeth 
Ar ol y Trosgol a'r Traeth. 



34 

Toi y Manod dymunol, — am ei nen, 
Y inae niwl caddugol ; 
Anaele fyd ! niwl a'l fol 
Tew ai* ysgwydd y Trosgol. 

Y Moelwyn mawr yn mlaen Meirion — wga 
Ar wanegog eigion; 
Hir yw ei dwf — her i'r don 
Lithro 'i sail a'i throsolion. 

Ni welaf, gan y niwloedd, — y Wyddfa, 
Gorseddfainc tymhestloedd, — 
Na brig yr Enig lle'r oedd 
Aruthr antur rhuthrwyntoedd. 

Llawer llyn, — llawer llanerch 
Y sydd yn denu fy seveh 
Ar ororau'r Eryri — 
Bron haf yw ei hwybren hi. 

Cilio o gan y clogwyni — ydoedd 
Newidiad chwith imi; 
Mae'r awen yn ymrewi 
Ar y llawr sy'n do i'r Hi. 

I Bomoseen ba maes ia 
I'w wynfwng yn ymdaenfa; 
A'i wyneb a adwaenir 
Yn un cryg tebyg i'r tir. 

Ffordd ddaw a gosgordd yn gynt, — o'i wyneb, 
Gwnaetli anadl y rhewynt ; 
Cerbydau yn gwau 'n y gwynt, 
A'r don yn cysgu danynt. 

Yn ei wgni wanega,— y rhew 

Dan ei droed a'i gwasga ; 
Gwisgwyd ef a gwasgod ia, 
A'i gwsg oer a gwisg eira . 

Er hyn, daw gwanwyn yn gynar — allan 
I'w ollwng o'l garchar ; 
Daw hefyd a bywyd bar 
Ddeol rhwymau y ddaear. 



35 

Gwisgir y gwiail a dail a diliau 
fewn ei Iwynydd, hyd fin ei lanau; 
A Uwyni blydd gwinwydd ugeiniau, 
Acw a liongiant wrth dewfrig gangau: 
A chuddir ei lechweddau, — a'i gymoedd, 
A rhy w filoedd o goed per afalau. 

Y Bryniau Gwyrddion i Meirion gydmaraf 
Amhoen eu hiechyd, a'u tegweh mwynwychaf : 
Paentir tlysineb ar vvyneb tirionaf 
Tlysion lanerchi rhwiig llvvyni dillynaf ; 
Ami wig yn llawn temlan haf — trw/r parthau 
O gaerog aeliau y graig a welaf. 

I Bomoseen bu mwy sail 
Yr edtyr ddyn ar adfail 
Na llynau rhai parthau pur, 
Hynotaf myuwes natur. 

Ymwelwyr wrth y miloedd — a dynant 
I anadl ei ddyfroedd; 

Gwua'n iach ami uu afiach oedd 

Fel yn dwr o flinderoedd. 

Meib hael y sir ymbleserant 
I chwai hwyllo'r cwch lawer cant ; 

A'r hwyliau i'r awelon, 

Oriau'r dydd, a chwery'r don. 

A dygir, ar adegau, — areithwyr 
I fritho ei lanau, — 
A gwych gerddorion yn gwau 
Rhif y ser o fesurau. 

I'r awyr pan ddaw'r huan 
I wneyd dydd a'i amrant dan, 

Y digoll wych redegwr, 
Ei lun dyn ar len y dwr ; 

A rhwydd y tyn, ar ei hynt, 
"Werni a'u hadar arnynt, 

Y gwawl hoyw, gloyw, glan, 
Yu ei bur wyneb eirian, 



36 

A chwery, yn ddrych araul 
Ei drem, o lygad yr haul 

Y pysg yn gymysg emau ; 

O'i fewn geir heb rif yn gwau; 
Gwisg der fel gwasgod arian 
Ar ei lif welir o'i Ian. 

Uwch ei ben yn wyrog, crog y creigiau, 
Yn enfawr linell, yn fur i'tv lanau ; 
Ar loy w adenydd ei grwydrol donau 
En llun welir dan eu hyllion aeliau 
Yna dolydd llawn dillau — porfaog, 
A llwyni cuweddog, llawn cy wyddau. 

Ei donau ar fanciau 'i fin 

Gurasant y gro iesin 

Oeaau na eheir hanesydd, 

Yr oes hou f'w cyfri sydd. 

Ba hanes tj'biau henoed 

Heddy w wyr flwyddi ei oed ! 

Cawn hwn yn mhell cyn hanes 

Yn llyn a'i aw el yn Ilea 

I ymwelwyr y miloedd, 

A ser yr hen amser oedd. 

Ki wendon borthai Indiaid 

A physg, ac eto ni phaid 

A phorthi rhy w ri o'r oes, 

I'w Ian ro'nt ran o'r einioes. 

Yn ei for hynt mae'n dyfrhau ; 

Rhywiog wlydd y gweirgloddiau ; 

Ireiddio y fro yn fras 

A lliw gwymp oil o gwmpas; 

Ireiddio'r coed Derwyddol, — 

Gwylwyr o dwf ar glawr dol ; 

Ac o honynt gan henoed. 

Oni ddaeth rhai'n ganoedd oed ? 

A mlaen, gan droi'n raelinau — gorenwog 
A ranant ei flfrydiau ; 
Ac at alwad gwlad yn glau 

Y rhedant tra ceir ydaii. 



37 

Daw mynor yn domenydd, — a llechi 
Lloches ddofn y creigydd, 
Fr man y ceir ymenydd, — 
Arf, a saer, i'vv ffurfio sydd. 

Ei haf olaf a welir, — a'i auaf 

Mwyach ni ddycb welir ; 
Yna'i feirwon a fwrir 
Ar gael hwnt i'w argel hir,. 

Eigion daear gan dywydd 

Ffrwydriad gwefr dan rhwyga'n rhydd ; 

Y graig a naid o'i gwregys, 

A chwal ei ddyfroed i yn chwys 
I wyneb y ciogwyni ; 
A gwna'r wybryn llwybr i'r Hi'. 
O'i wyl wydd, heb le iddaw, 

Y bryn a ddianc mewn bi'aw ; 

Y coedgor, He ceid cydgan, 
A mawr dwif a gymer dan ; 
Ei le, a'i wasgawd, losgir, 
Wedi i haf a'i anaf hir. 
Diwedd pob peth a nesaodd. 

A Duw y mab yn dweydy modd, 

loxoKON Glan Dwyryd. 



Hon. Henry Hall, of Rutland, delivered the following ad- 
dress: 

Some sixty years ago, at a political dinner in Mass., a venerable dar- 
key gave this toast: "G'lbbernui" Strong : may his mantle-piece fall on the 
head of his successor." Audience and speakers alike pei'haps to-day 
need the thick armor of a darkie's skull, to shield them from the mantles 
and mantle-pieces of our predecessors, recent and remote ; if half the 
stories of modern anci ancient tradition present truthful views of what has 
been on these shores and neighboring isle. 

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed away, since the Legislature of 
the state enacted a law authorising towns to provide each for a town his- 
tory at the town's expense. The town of Castleton, has as yet, made no 
effort, toward pi-operly preserving and publishing its own history ; and 
yet no town in the state has a Revolutionary history, surpassing, or even 
equaling, that of this town. 



38 

Castleton, was the home of Col. Amos Binl, Col. Noah Lee and Lieut. 
Elias Hall. 

In Castleton, in May 1775, met that little band, at whose summons first 
■went down the British flag, before the coming Republic. In Castleton 
■was planned the captures of Skeensboro', Ticouderoga and Crown Point ; 
in Castleton, met Ethan Allen, Seth Warner and Benedict Arnold ; In Cas- 
tleton. it was, that Benedict Arnold, by virtue of a Massachusetts commis- 
sion claimed to command those Green Mountain Boys, who had enlisted 
for the capture of Ti., on the express condition that Ethan Alien was to be 
their leader ; it was in Castleton, that St. Clair with his army and staff of 
distinguished young officers, camped over one night, July 1777 ; it was in 
Castleton, that a British army tarried briefly ; it was in Castleton, that 
Bur^'oyne summoned Tory and Whig to meet Gov. Skeene and accept Bi-it- 
ish protection and swear allegiance ; it was in Castleton, that the Head- 
quarters of the Vermont troops were located, the latter part of the Revolu- 
tionary war ; it was in Castleton, that the next to the last of Vermont's 
National legislatures met; Castleton once rejoiced in the teachings of some 
of the ablest medical talent in the country. 

The proposed naming, of the most noted i.sland in all this region, calls 
attention to other local names. The origin of the name of Castleton, is 
found in the first paragraph of Scott's novel, "Peveril of the Peak." 
William Peveril, a son of William the Conqueror, fought at the Battle of 
Hastings, was givin large real estate in Dei-byshire, 120 or 130 miles north 
of London, built a sti-ong Castle over the "Devil's Cive ;" thence the 
neighboring village was called, Castleton. The name was applied to this 
town by George Wentworth of N. H., the collegian, merchant and politi- 
cian of ancient and aristocratic Portsmouth, to whom our state is indebted 
for such a choice collection of good old English town-names ; so fixr remov- 
ed from the tawdry nomenclature, borrowed from the shores of the Med- 
iterranean, by our louder brethren West and South. 

It was your Col. Bird, that furni.shed a name, for that Ira mountain, 
which is such a notable feature in the landscape, miles away. 

Your Glen Lake— a lake rai-ely equaled in beauty— once rejoiced in the 
soubriquet of •'Screw-Driver Pond" a name now without meaning — but 
among the old hunters, a screw-driver, was a triangular shaped utensil of 
the gunner — one branch was a hammer, used to pick the flint, one branch 
was an awl for cleaning out the passage from the lock to the inside of the 
bai-rel, and one a screw driver proper, for screwing down the flint fii-mly 
into its place. Such a hunter's screw-driver apily designated the tiiangu- 
lar shape of Glen Lake ; resembling the equi-distant three legs of the 
rounded emblem in the coat-of-arms of the Isle of man. 

Your principal lake has always suffered fi-om an unhappy name. In 
Wm. Blodgett's map of 1789, it is called, "Lake Bombazon ;" for many 
years it was "Lake Bombazine" and recently '-Lake Bomoseen ;" all thi-ee 
a-"bom"-inable. As Castleton invites city visitors, by its other attrac- 
tions, may it soon rejoice in attractive names. 



39 

Castleton was a favorite resort of Ethan Allen both before and after his 
captivity, both before and during the Revolutionary war. At one time, 
• he was returning- in the winter from "Ti.," whither he had been on an 
"alarm," he wore a new pair of snow-shoes and they hurt his feet. As 
they reached the head of Castleton Lake, the soldiei-s cut down a small 
evergreen ti-ee and induced him to ride thereon while they drew it on the 
ice. For some miles Ethan amused the "Boys" with stories and then 
leapt oiF the boughs, declaring — or if the revised edition had been out 
then, would have declared — he was not going to ride to Hades or Gehenna 
on that condemned hurdle. 

NAMING THE ISLAND. 

The chairman announced that the time had now arrived for 
naming the Island and inquired if there were any names pro- 
posed. 

Geo. M. Fuller Esq. of Fair Haven stepped forward upon the 
rock and spoke as follows : 

Mr. PresvJtnt : 

During the troublesome times between the Green Mountain Boys and 
the Yorkers there resided on the eastern bank of Lake Champlain with 
the family of Capt. Hendee an Indian by the name of Neshobe who es- 
pousing the cause of the Green Mountain Boys became one of the most 
noted of scouts and spies. His knowledge of the country gave him a decided 
advantage over the New Yorkers ; still later when Burgoyne was attempt- 
ing to pass from Quebec to Albany we tind him lirking about the enemy 
and giving the Federals timely notice of the movements of the enemy. 
Indeed it was he who first gave them notice that General Frazier with a 
larsre number of troops had crossed the lake, and was upon Vermont soil ; 
having received this notice the Federals now proposed to meet the enemy 
on Old Hubbardton battlefield : Side by side with Allen, Baker, Warring- 
ton and old Pete Jones, this noble savage fought for your liberties and 
mine. And now Mr. President that the name of this noble savage may 
not be forgotten, but handed down to future generations and ages, with 
that of Allen, Baker, Pete Jones and others, I move that this beautiful 
Island whose shores are washed by the waters of this lake, whereon in 
days past he has jiaddled his birch canoe, be named in honor of the noble 
Indian scout Neshobe, and may it hereafter ever be known by that 
name. 

Prof. Abel E. Leavenworth, principal of the State Normal 
school at Castleton, then gave the following address : 

Fellow Citizens. — Why meet we here to-day ? Do you reply, " Our 
fathers thus kept the day, and so do we ?" May we not seek for a better 
reason, one having a deeper meaning, and one more easily justified before 
the world, and especially, at the bar of our own consciences ? 



40 

One of the best tests of any custom is to pass it through the crucible of 
repetition. If it responds ever to the wants of the body, the mind, or the 
heart, we tire not of it. That diet which conduces most strong-ly to de- 
velop, in a healthy way, the bodily powers, and through them carry 
energy to the brain and courage to the heart, never cloys a healthy ap- 
petite. 

The Creator of the heavens and the earth works by constant methods. 
Our hearts are to-day moved to pleasant emotions and to exclamations of 
delight, as we glance up and down this lovely vale. These wooded hilla 
and grassy meads, so beautiful in their vestments of green, speak to us of 
the wonderful changes that have come over this enchanting prospect since 
the bursting of the icy bands of winter. A.nd yet all this is but the repe- 
tition of six thousand successive years. Why tire we not of it ? It meets 
our necessities. The unceasing revolutions of the earth and the unwearied 
round of the seasons, bring to us, with all of their sameness, constant oc- 
cupation and the means of providing for the wants of life. 

We need to be reminded of the coat of the liberty of which we so proudly 
boast to-day. And where can seeds of patriotism and undying loyalty be 
better sown and their principles more surely inculcated than on this com- 
memorative occasion ? Here we lay aside all partisan feeling and all 
political differences, and meet, with one h -art and mind, upon this ground, 
hallowed by heroic sacrifices, to renew our fealty to the principles sealed 
to us by the blood and eufferings of our fathers. " Di<i not our hearts 
burn within us" as the speakers who have preceded me, unfolded the 
records of the past? As Africa's proud chieftain led his little son to the 
altar, that he might bind his soul with the vow of eternal enmity to Rome, 
80 may these lessons from the past lead us, at Freedom's altar, to take 
upon ourselves and require of our sons and daughters a vow, not less 
binding because untinctured by the spirit of revenge, of eternal fealty to 
the principles for which onr martyred heroes gave up their lives. Be this 
our solemn vow : It shall never he said they died in vain, 

A redeemed i-ace, lifted by their sacrifices from thraldom to freedom, 
shall ever chant their praise and honor their service ; thousands yet un- 
born shall devoutly thank heaven that the flag our fathers defended still 
floats over the " land of the free, and the home of the brave." Its em- 
blematic colors shall ever brighten with the lessons they teach, — the red 
growing to a scarlet dye, as it reminds them of the blood that flowed so 
freely a country to save; the blue causing them to turn their eyes ever to the 
azure vault above, as the source from whence comsth their help ; the 
white ever teaching that he only can be free whose heai-ts is pure and 
whose life is unstained by a corrupt thought, or word, or deed. 

And lest we should come thoughtlessly to the service of this day. forget- 
ful that '* eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," a voice from Goil spoke 
to this great nation of fifty million people, two days since. 

Shades of Ethan Allen and Seth Warner and Herrick and Francis ! ri.se 
and tell us whether we live in free America or in autocratic Russia ! Shall 
the head of this great people no longer walk among us as a common man, 



41 

undisfin{juished by other insignia of rank than that g'iven him by his 
Creator 1 God forbid. 

But I am reminded that we are not alone to-day. The spirits 

of the heroic dead are with us. We tread hallowed g-round. Men 
of giant frames and lion hearts have trod it before. Shall I call the roll I 

The first to respond is a very Hercules, in form and stature. The pierc- 
ing glance of hia eagle eye reveals the channgs of the untamed spirit with- 
in, which could brook tyranny in no form and under no guise. You 
recognize the hero who on May 8th, 1775, mustered at Castleton that band 
two hundred and seventy strong, whose lineal descendants many of you 
before me are. and whose names some of you bear. "In the name of 
the Great Jehovah," and of the supreme power of the land, he bids you 
heed the lessons of the hour. 

Close beside him, as then, you discern the manly form of Seth Warner, 
on whose streaming pennant are emblazoned "Crown Point," "Hubbard- 
ton," and "Bennington." By the blood shed on the plains east of us, he 
chides us for our waning patriotism and for the truckling sycophancy of 
the times. 

Next rises the brave Col. Francis who fell at Hubbardton covered with 
wounds, while rallying his regiment in the vain endeavor to wrest victory 
from defeat, as he contended with a fresh force of the enemy, double his 
own in number. 

We detect, crouching behind yon green hillock the dim outline of the 
dusky form of their faithful and vigilant Indian scout— Neghobe. 

Under the names North Hero and South Her©, the deeds of Allen and 
Herrick are commemorated by the lovely islands that are cradled on the 
waters of Lake Champlain. It is eminently fitting, we claim, that services 
so valuable and timely should be recognized, not by the granite monolith, 
but by yon isle nestled upon the bosom of this peaceful inland lake, which 
henceforth shall bear the baptismal name this day given it — Neshobe, a 
fitting, though tardy act of justice to the red man who never forgot a 
friend, though he was slow to learn the Christian lesson of forgiveness for 
his enemy who had driven him from his ancient fishing grounds. 

In the presence of these spirits of the dead, let us recognize anew the 
obligations that rest upon us, to guard as a sacred trust ths free institu- 
tions bequeathed to us as a priceless heritage, by their valor. 

We live in momentous times. The heart of the nation is appalled at the 
corruption that has lifted its hydra head, not only in the councils of the 
nation, but in almost every walk of civil life. 

Men of the Green Mountains! as we have ever been ready to meet the 
foe of our liberties upon the battle field, let it never be said, to our shame, 
that we have failed in the moral courage that will enable tis to meet and 
repel the more insidious and less chivalrous foe which is covertly under- 
mining public morals and sapping the very life-blood of the nation — even 
a pure, exhalted, unselfish patriotism. 



42 

Let us ever be found at tlie post of iluty, "stern daughter of (tO(1," in 
this warfare not with carnal weapons, as the chanriions of every public 
viitue. 

At the primary meeting-, at thft ballot box, in all our business inter- 
course, be our voice ever heard for the right, the good and the true. 

The Chairman spoke as follows : The small flag that lies pros- 
trate at our feet was brought home by Ca{)t. Abel E. Leavenworth 
of Company K. 9th. Vermont Volunteers, on his return from 
the war in 1865. The socket on the staff was found on Hub- 
bardton battle field near the monument by F. C. Gaillt, in 1871, 
and loaned to the Historical Society lor this occasion. If you will 
cast your eyes over to that beautiful Island you will see a young 
man upon the rocky shore ; his name is Herbert O. Allen, of 
Fair Haven, a great, groat grandson of Col. Noah Lee, one of the 
earliest settlers of the town of Castleton,and one of the men refered 
to in the "Gt een Mountain Boys." Young Allen has with him a 
bottle of milk and a small flag. The bottle was furnished by Prof. 
Judah Dana, of West Rutland, a great grandson of General 
Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame ; the milk is from a noted 
Durham Cow, Gwynne of Riverside, whose pedigree is traced 
back thirty-five generations to 1781, and is the propi-rty of Al- 
fred E. Higley, of Castleton; the flag is the one that was waved 
at the head of a column of men, women, children and Negroes 
who came out to welcome the Union Army into Richmond, April 
3, 1865. This flag was secured by Capt. Abel E. Leavenworth, 
who led the advance skirmish line into that city and by him 
loaned to the Historical Society for this occasion. The flag at 
the speaker's feet was then waved ; young Allen smashed the bot- 
tle of milk against the rocks of the Island, the fragments of 
which glanced off and produced a spray on the watei's of the 
Bomoseen ; he then waved the little flag as a signal, and the 
Chairman then pronounced that the Island shall heneefoith be 
known as NESHOBE. Three hearty cheers went up from the 
crowd; the bands struck up a lively and patriotic air ; and fifty 
guns from the battery on Birch Point tluindered away as an in- 
termission was taken for the Dinner of the Historical Society. 

CELEBRATION ROCK. 

At the dinner table Dr. James Sanford made a motion that the 
Rock on which the exercises had been held in the forenoon be 
called " Celebration Uock-." The motion was put and carried with 



43 

loud applause, when the venerable vice-president said : Let this 
Rock forever after be called CELEBRATION ROCK. 



AFTERNOON EXERCISES. 

At 3 o'clock P. M., Hon. J. B. Bromley called to order the 
large audience that had assembled to listen to the afternoon 



EXERCISES. 

The Declaracion of Independence was read by L. B. Clogston, 
of Fair Haven. 

Hon. C. H. Joyce, of Rutland was gracefully introduced, and 
his speech, which we clip from the columns of the Rutland Her- 
ald and Globe, was substantially as follows : 

Fkllow Citizens: — This is the fitst thne I have ever asked to be ex- 
cused by a Vermont audience, and I have not appeai'ed here for that pur- 
pose ; but when I state a few facts you will acknowledg-e there is no ex- 
cuse needed. I am not here to say anything' to you in ihe strain of mel- 
ancholy, but I have felt, ever since we learned the President had been 
stricken down by the hand of an assassin, that it would be impossible for 
me to deliver an address to you as I had intended. What the result of 
this crime will be I do not know. I am acquainted with the attending 
physicians, who are men of high talent in their profession, and I have 
watched what they have to say ; and, while I yet hope for the best, it 
seems to me it would not be surprising to hear of the President's death at 
any moment. I told you last fall how highly I esteemed the President, 
and I yet believe that if he is the victim of this assassin we shall not see 
his like again for many a day. This is a glorious day, and ours a glorious 
nation, and it is horrible to think that among us is a man base enough to 
attempt the life of our much esteemed chief magisti-ate. What may be 
the outcome of this crime we do not know, but we do know that our na- 
tion has passed through terrible cri-^is, and we may be sure no great ca- 
lamity will befall us now and deprive us of a man who has done credit to 
himself and to Republicati institutions by showin g that he is President as 
well in fact as by election, and that he will not be ruled by a clique or the 
head of one wing of his party. Let us receive throu gh this crime a new 
baptism into the principles of freedom, and if we do our duty we will ful- 
till the career Providence has marked out for us and carry the nation on 
to a glorious futui-e. 

Col. Joyce's reference to the Conkling difficulty was loudly 
applauded and his speech w!>s well received. 



44 

Rev. E. T. Hooker of Castleton, was then called upon, and after 
placing his little child, that had fallen a-^leep, into Col. Joyce's 
arms paid to him the following compliment which we copy from 
the Fair Haven Era : 

"I lay down my sleeping- cliiltl in the amis of our distinjjuishe'i friend 
and one (lay when Ci)I. Joyce shall have become even more honored and 
beloved than he now is, will tell the boy for his pi-ide and pleasure that 
on this day he was held in his arms, I pray God that the child's more 
mature intelligence may then know that out of the shadow and grief of 
this awful calamity, we came into the sunshine and joy of a great deliver- 
ance." Mr. Hooker went on in strong and earnest words, such as he al- 
ways speaks when his soul is moved, and gave hope for thirsty hearts, that 
when all other hope had faile(i the hand of Gi)d could heal. As his faith 
is so may it be unto him and us. 

A Poem on "The Valley of Lake Bomoseen," composed es- 
pecially for this occasion, by Captain James Hope, of Watkins 
Glen, N. Y., formerly of Castleton, was read by Prof. D. Arnold, 
of Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., which we insert in full : 

THE VALLEY OF LAKE BOMOSEEN. 

You ask lor a song, from a sexagenarian, 

A Poem, in praise of this beautiful vale — 
Can a heart I'ke dead leaves in last year's herbarium. 

Respond to the summons in aught but a wail ? 

When wild roses bloom 'mid the frosts of December, 
And summer flowers gladden the snow-covered plain — 

Then may I, with my feeble hand strike the glad numbers 
And bid silent harp-strings revibrate again. 

Can scenes that awakened my soul's deep devotion, 

The fountain from whence inspiration I drew, 
Cause the heart that is wither'd to beat with emotion, 

" When fond recollection recalls them to view ?" 

I have seen thee ! Fair Vale, in thine autumnal splendor, 
Thy glories of Summer, thy beauties of shade ; 

"When the Storm -King of Winter rode fiercely in grandeur ; 
When the sweet breath of Spring-time wooed forest and glade. 

I know thee ! Sweet Valley, every flower in thy wild-wood. 
Every leaf on thy trees, every song of thy rills ; 

*' And they're dear to my heart as the scenes of my childhood," 
As I gaze on the picture that memory fills. 



45 

Your green, mossy grottoes, by streamlet and fountain ; 

Your lichen-clad rocks that embattle the hills; 
Your gray morning mist-wreaths that mantle the mountains, 

And daisy decked meadows, are dear to me still. 

I have loved thee ! Sweet Vale, Silvery Lake and Grreen Mountain 
With aftection that's deathless, deep, tender and true; 

With the ardor of youth, and the strength of full manhood, 
As the years lengthened onward the stronger it grew. 

How oft ! Silvery Lake, o'er thy crystalline waters, 
I sped the light shallop with bright flashing oar ; 

Keeping time to the songs of Vermont's fairest daughters 
While we drank in the beauties of sky, lake aod shore. 

On thy green, fairy isle ihat so peacefully slumbers, 
Like a silver-set gem on thy fair throbbing breast ; 

Where the forest- thrush warbles in wild woodland numbers. 
When weary at noon-tide, I've laid me to rest. 

Ah I well I remember the first kindly greeting, 

When an exile, I met, where these bright waters flow ; 

The heart-warm friendship, so true and unfleeting, 
You gave the lone boy, in the dear long-ago. 

But stilled are the hearts that gave welcome so kindly, 

And hushed the dear voices, so musical then. 
And cold are the hands now, whose gj'asp was so friendly 

And soundly they slumber by hillside and glen. 

I grew with the growth of your sons and your daughters ; 

I've tasted their love,- and I've led them in war ; — 
And not in this wide world are fairer or braver, 

Than the Daughters and Sons of these valleys so fair. 

I thank the All-Father, of earth's teeming legions. 
The Guide of my youth, who still guides me as then ; 

Who directed my steps to this fair mountain region, 
Whose god is the Lord, and whose products are men. 



46 

The following poem on Neshohe was composed by E. H. 
Phelps, of Fair Haven, and read before the annual meeting of 
the Rutland County Historical Society, held at Adams' Hall, in 
Fair Haven, Aug. 10, 1881 : 

NESHOBE. 

Nesh-o-be ! Pray tell me who was he ? 
(Or perhaps you call him Neah-o-hQ .) 
What was his family pedigree ? 
An Indian brave, I am simply told, 
A painted savage, saucy and bold, 
Wbo roamed the forest in days of old. 

And hunted for scalps and glory ; 
Whose name to us has been handed down 
As an Indian scout of great renown, 

The hero of song and story. 

But though he was known as an Indian scout, 
He lived like other braves no doubt. 
Whom all the children have read about, 

A sort of a savage wonder ; 
A free and easy child of the woods. 
Who had but little of this woi'ld's goods, 

But lived to scalp and plunder. 

His cares were light and his wants were few ; 
He had no bank notes falling dae. 
And his wife and daughters never knew 

About the styles and fashions ; 
He loved to hunt as he loved to eat, 
And 'twas simply fan to get the meat, 
> That furnished his daily rations. 

His house or wigwam was rude indeed, 

But perfectly answered every need ; 

When the glad earth smiled and the sky was fair, 

He lived and slept in the open air. 

And cared not a cent foi- a cover; 
But when the weather grew cold and bleak, 
He built a house that was quite unique, 
A dozen poles run up to a peak, 

With dear-skin covered over. 



47 

His dress was arranged with simple taste ; 

A wampuin belt encircled his waist, 

And his feet and ankles were well encased 

In moccasins made of leather, 
And trimmed with beads in the neatest style. 
While on his head he wore no tile, 

But simply a turkey's feather. 

His frock and leggins were deer-skin, tanned, 
And trimmed in a style that was simply grand ; 
And his manly cheek, by the breezes fanned, 

Was painted red and yellow ; 
And when he walked out to meet the foe. 
With his knife and tomahawk, arrows and bow. 

He was really a killing fellow. 

Long years ago, ere the pale face came, 
He roamed these hills and valleys for srame ; 
He hunted the fox, the deer, and the bear, 
Or anything else that was covered with hair ; 
And when these grew scarce he didn't care, 

But turned to hunting his brother ; 
Natural hunters these Indians were. 
And this is the reason, I infer. 
Why, next to hunting for food and fur, 

They loved to hunt one another. 

And when returned from war or chase, 
As the shadows of night came down apace, 
These noble sons of the Indian race, 

Encamped by brook or river, 
Joined in the dance, and the songs they sang 
Down through the shadowy valleys rang, 
And the hills re-echoed their savage slang ; 

The thought of it makes one shiver. 

But though trained to the arts of war and strife, 
His heart could respond to a gentler life;- 
And oft as the day began to fade, 
He was wont to emerge from the forest shade, 
With the choice of his heart, a dusky maid. 
The fairest of Indian daughters. 



48 

To seek the lake and the birchen boat, 
And bathed in the moonlight silently float 
O'er Bomoseen's silvery waters. 

Long years have flown since maiden and brave 
Floated and wooed on the sparkling wave; 
Their dust lies under the earth's green face, 
And DO man knoweth their resting place ; 

But Neshobe dieth never ; 
His name still lives in the island green, 
That rests on the bosom of Bomoseen, 

And thus it shall live forerer. 

THE BOAT RACE. 

On account of the poor condition of the wa*er the boat race was post- 
poned from four, till eig-ht o'clock. The participants were Grant, Mans- 
field and Ryan. The jud^^es, Will P. Hyde, Smith Sherman, Wood- 
ward, James H. Spencer and Ira R. Allen. Ryan had the misfortune to 
injure his boat, which was repaired however, in time foi' the race. The 
positions as drawn were Mansfield, Ryan and Grant. The cours^i was 
fi'om Mason's Point to Coffee's Landinuf and return, makin^p one and one- 
half miles. The boatmen took the water at the word "go ;" V)ut Grant 
started with a spurt and continued it till he held the lead when they all 
settled into a steady pull. The race was very even till the turn with the 
odds in favor of Grant. At the turn Mansfield failed to find his? buoy, 
which through some unknown cause had disappeared, and made the turn 
about one hundred an <1 fifty feet beyond. This accident g-av« Mansfield 
the last place on the return, but by frequent spurts he shortened the dis- 
tance. At the finish Grant pulled in one and one-half lengths ahead of 
Ryan, and Mansfield followed by two lengths. But for Mansfield's mis- 
fortune at the turning stake, the race would undoubtedly have been closer 
and more exciting. Winner's time 12.57. — Fair IJaven Era. 

FIRE WORKS. 

The fire works in the evening were let off" from a raft in the 
bay east of >[ason's Point and were witnessed by thousands who 
stopped over, along the shores of the Lake. This closed one of 
the most successful celebrations ever held in this section of Ver- 
mont and the largest collection of people ever assembled in the 
town of Castleton. 

PROMINENT CITIZENS PRESENT. 

Hon. Hiel HoUister, author of the History of Pawlet, and 
Marshall Brown, of Pawlet; Dr. John E. Hitt, of Granville, N. 
Y. ; Dea. Joseph Joslin, Dr. L. D. Ross, Hon. Merritt Clark, 



49 

author of several historical papers and poeips, of Poultney ; Dr. 
T. E. Wakefield, Hon. Simeon Allen, Potter Wescott, Esq. ; R. 
T. Ellis and Richard E. Lloyd, Esq., of Fair Haven ; E. L. Bar- 
bour, author of historical and poetical productions, and Dr. H. 
R. Jones, of Benson; Simeon Young, Benoni Griffin and W. P. 
J. Hyde, of Sudbury ; E. J. Ganson and M. M. Dikeman, of 
Hubbardton ; Newman Weeks and William Gilmore, of Rutland. 

Rutland County Historical Society. 
OFFICERS. 
President. — Hon. Barnes Frisbie, Poultney, 
Vice-Presidents. — First, Dr. James Sanford, Castleton ; 
Second, Hon. Joseph Joslin, Poultney. 

Secretary. — Dr. John M. CuRRiEii, Castleton. 
Treasurer. — Hon. R. C. Abel, West Haven. 



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